May Reread

Opinions, as always, are my own

Hot and Badgered

Honey Badger Chronicles #1

Three stars

This book came out March 27, 2018

Follows Bite Me

Followed by In a Badger Way

Audiobook from Audible

In a Badger Way

Honey Badger Chronicles #2

Three stars

This book came out March 26, 2019

Follows Hot and Badgered
Followed by Badger to the Bone

Audiobook from Audible

Badger to the Bone

Honey Badger Chronicles #3

Four stars
This book comes out March 31st, 2020
Follows In a Badger Way

Followed by Breaking Badger

Audiobook from Audible

Breaking Badger

Honey Badger Chronicles #3

Four stars

This book comes out August 31st, 2021

Follows Badger to the Bone

Audiobook from Audible

Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Lady Daisy Dalrymple #4

This book came out in 1996

Follows Requiem for a Mezzo

Followed by Damsel in Distress

Borrowed from the Audible Premium Plus catalog

The Copenhagen Connection by Elizabeth Peters

This book came out in 1982

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #1

Followed by Murder with Puffins

This book came out February 7th, 2006

Audible book of mine

Murder With Puffins by Donna Andrews

Four stars

This book came out June 15th, 2001

Follows Murder with Peacocks

Followed by Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingoes by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #1

This book came out October 12th, 2001

Follows Murder With Puffins 

Followed by Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Unicorn Famous by Dana Simpson

Phoebe and her Unicorn

This book came out April 6, 2021

Follows Virtual Unicorn Experience

Followed by Unicorn Playlist

Borrowed as ebook from Library

High Jinx by Kelley Armstrong

Kennedy Bennett is JUST FRIENDS with Aiden Connolly thank-you-very-much. Yes the luck worker is handsome and rich but that doesn't mean she is dating the man. In fact, they are very scrupulous about keeping romance out of their relationship. That doesn't mean she isn't bummed that he isn't texting her back. Suddenly, he is in her shop of previously cursed objects (even the creepy dolls her sister Hope really likes but Kennedy definitely does not). He takes over the bidding on a painting that Kennedy knows to
have been part of a quartet, each cursed based on the four children of a woman who some people would rather history forgot. When they go to pick up the painting, the experience is not textbook. From a woman who is not who she seems to a young girl rushing out of the painting, it is topsy turvy. Kennedy suspects that Mercy (also Hermes, Mercury, whatever-ever-name) is testing her. But the real story ends up being so much bigger and weirder. And they are working on finding the other three paintings at the same time Aiden is working to pay off his parents... a year earlier than he had expected.

A lot of plot holes but a fun ride and I like that we get to see the relationship between Aiden and Kennedy grow.

Four stars

This book came out December 7, 2021

Follows Cursed Luck

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Give Up the Ghost by Angie Fox

Verity Long has had problems with her boyfriend's mother since before the series started. Virginia Wydell destroyed Verity's family mansion taking all of the family heirlooms. And she has definitely tried to come between her son, Ellis, and Verity. But she's just called Ellis and needs help. 

See, Virginia has just discovered her best friend, Twyla Sue, dead on the floor of her beauty salon. The book her mother Erma Sue left behind contained a lot of gossip. Actually, it was a lot of blackmail material that she used to rule Sugarland. The book turned up in the recently opened time capsule and Twyla Sue spirited it away before anyone could read it. Now Twyla's dead and pages from the book are turning up. And all of them are revealing secrets Virginia would rather keep hidden. She begs Verity to take the case. Verity does, but only to help Ellis. And it turns out Erma Sue, once grounded, has figured out how to move around. This could have major implications for Verity and Frankie.

The mystery was really loose on this one but there was major character development, especially for Virginia. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 31, 2022

Follows The Haunted Homecoming

Followed by Dread and Buried

ARC kindly provided by Moose Island Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery

Three women come together to rent space on the boardwalk. They are strangers to begin with, each with a life that seems relatively perfect for them. But there are currents underneath and all three are about to find their metaphorical boats rocked.

Bree is a bookstore owner who holds her heart close, even for the author who is currently in town. 

Ashley loves her boyfriend and she's ready to take the next step but he doesn't appear to be.

 Mikki is divorced but she is still good friends with her ex. That might be a problem for the man she's dating. 

There is so much sturm and drang in this book. It was a little much for me this time but I think regular readers of Mallery's contemporaries will enjoy it. 

Three stars

This book comes out May 31, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Mitzvah by Erik Henry Vick

Someone is trying to set up Leery Oriscoe. There's a dead body and the witness describes his wolf to a T. He's taken off the case and it's up to Dru to figure out what is going on. This requires a trip to visit her parents in Hell. Then Leery and Dru are off across the country to talk to an old friend of her father's who seems to be the person pulling the strings.

Three stars

This book came out May 29, 2020

Follows Arms Dealer 

Followed by Silkie Stalkings

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

The book opens with Roderick Alleyn telling the story to group of upcoming police of the time Troy decided to take a riverboat cruise on impulse. And this group is interspersed with a third person view of how a murder occurred on board and why/how a famous thief, the Jam Pot (sp?) was involved.

With Roderick in the United States and her son away as well, Troy can afford to take eight days on the river. Of course, people will probably find out who she is but she does try to stay under the radar, especially when a cloying Englishwoman with a cold latches on to her. If the woman knew that Troy was a famous artist... ugh. No one on the trip is too upset when that woman ends up leaving the boat but Troy is definitely concerned. Especially since she was already on alert when she makes an offhand comment about Constables (meaning the artist) and feels a sudden tension. Then she sees a newspaper article mentioning that the man who was supposed to be in her cabin was strangled. It makes her call Brer Fox to see if she needs to be worried. 

Overt racism is exhibited by some of the passengers making some of the trip uncomfortable. Also, the solution is a little overly dramatic. I decided to read this out of order based on the Classic Mysteries podcast episode.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1968

Follows Killer Dolphin

Followed by When in Rome

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Arms Dealer by Erik Henry Vick

A young woman is waiting for her friend but only receives a phone call saying her friend has been injured. When the young woman goes to look, she is also attacked and left for dead. Leery Oriscoe and his partner Dru Nogan are assigned to the case. 

It turns out that they are diving into the underground world of arms dealing. No, not guns. This is connected to the zombie mafia so we are looking at literal arms. and this leads into a feud that travels into at least the next book. 

A play on the Law & Order television series but with supernatural creatures. Definitely needs to be read as tongue firmly in cheek.

Three stars

This book came out April 24, 2020

Follows Seduction

Followed by Mitzvah

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

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

Bad Girls Drink Blood by S.L. Choi

I liked the title of this book and the description drew me in but I had a hard time sinking into the story. There was a lot, A LOT going on in the first few chapters of this book. And it just kept going. I overall liked the book but there was so much happening on every page that it started to feel like a slog to get to the end.

Malaney "Lane" Callaghan escaped to the human world after years of being mocked for being a monster. Half sun fae and half blood fae, she belongs to neither world. Even worse, though she requires blood, she seems to be allergic to it (in the sense that she blacks out and becomes very violent.) 

She didn't come to this world alone though, her two sisters traveled along with her. They are adopted but they form a true family. Including a family business working as private investigators. The book starts off with two cases, one of which involves a banshee cheating on her kelpie husband. But he is not the one who magics her into a pile of dust. 

Suddenly, Lane and her sisters are thrust into a murky world where they are up against pure evil and magic more powerful than anything they've run into before. And not all of them are going to make it out whole.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 19, 2022

ARC kindly provided by City Owl Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Nightwork by Nora Roberts

Roberts is an amazing writer and has moved slowly from strictly romance, to romance with some bigger story, to some bigger story with some romance. As the books have gotten longer, they've often gotten a little more meandering with a slightly slower pace. I think this book is written just as well as many of her others, it just didn't hit as well for me at this time. 

The book opens with nine-year-old Harry Banks starting a life of thievery. His single-parent mother is sick with cancer and he needs some way to help the situation. Well, in the options of what a child can do to earn big money, this is maybe the least damaging for his psyche.

We follow Harry as he really starts to hone his craft. He is incredibly intelligent, learning languages and picking up social queues as he goes through life. Of course, he picks up some romances but he also picks up one very big enemy who threatens his love and then even his life (though he's more concerned about the former.)

Three stars

This book come out May 24, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Riddles of Hildegarde Withers: Stories by Stuart Palmer

The Riddle of the Lady from Dubuque

A girl is engaged to be married to a plastic surgeon. But another young woman was just killed in his office. The young woman had claimed she and the surgeon were in love.

The Riddle of the Yellow Canary

It is a songbird that leads HildegardeWIthers to finding the murderer of a young songstress. 

The Riddle of the Blue Fingerprint

A heavy mahogany wardrobe goes up for sale. But it's weight is added to by the dead body inside. A man that someone had hired Hildegarde to look for.

The Riddle of the Doctor's Double

Hildegarde and the Inspector are wandering around Manhattan when suddenly a window flies open and someone calls for the police. It's Miss Emmy Marvin, housekeeper to Mr. Wurtz who initially appears to be dead. His doctor, Peter French, is called immediately and Miss Withers rounds up the other occupants of the house, Wurtz's niece, Maida, and nephew, Franzel. While there, the doctor reveals that he believes someone is tring to poison Johan Wurtzand lets them know that he will be doing an autopsy if the man dies. The next day, Miss Marvin opens the door to a heavily mufflered doctor... who then comes in again fifteen minutes later. Johan Wurtz is found dead. But who could have murdered him?

The Riddle of the Twelve Amethysts

A former pupil reaches out to Hildegarde for help. He was married to a young woman who divorced him while he was in the Air Force and then married someone else. He had been writing about the exploits of Miss Withers and she is wondering if Miss Withers can do some investigating for her. It seems the new husband is receiving an amethyst on the first of each month and it's driving her to distraction because she doesn't know why.

The Riddle of the Black Museum

A man died in a locked museum full of exhibits, instruments used to kill other people. Two men are left and each accuses the other. Hildegarde Withers is up to her old tricks to figure out what really happened.

The Riddle of the Green Ice

Someone keeps breaking store windows and stealing jewels. The New York police department is being mocked left and right. Miss Hildegarde Withers is on the spot since she is looking for an apartment in the neighborhood.

The Riddle of the Snafu Murder

When there's a fight, a young woman gives her name as Hildegarde Withers. The FBI would like to know who that young woman is. Is it a former student? Miss Withers is on the case.

Four stars

This book was republished February 8, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

I had heard about this book on Book Riot where they described it as an origin story for a detective. They are very careful in outlining the plot of the book and that somehow made me miss exactly how dark this book really was going to be. This is also sort of a homecoming book as well as a self-realization book. 

Told from the first-person view of recent college graduate Annie McIntyre, we see brief glimpses of her life as she prepares to go out for the evening with her cousin. They get dressed, drive around for awhile visiting the diner where Annie works, and then head out to the land of what appears to be one of the local wealthy families. They have two sons, one of who has a past with Annie. 

While there, Annie sees a server from the diner, Victoria, and she is wildly drunk. Annie tries to help her but gets distracted trying to stop her cousin from getting into a fight. Victoria's body is discovered the next day.

This whole book dives into the love Annie has for her town, Garnett, but also the problems inherent with staying there. Annie decides to work with her grandfather, Leroy, to become a private investigator. She wants to know what happened to Victoria. But working on this investigation exposes more than just the murderer, it also forces Annie to face that her quaint little town might not be so perfect after all.

Three stars

This book came out April 19, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier, Romy Fursland

Sophie Spark has dropped out of high school and is now working as an intern (seems to be a jack-of-all-trades, filling in where she is needed) at the famous hotel which is often called the castle in the clouds. When the book opens, Sophie is working in the nursery trying to find a pair of twins who have run away encouraged by a young, rich brat who does not make her job any easier.

As the story goes on, we see some mysterious characters who are coming into the hotel. Not so mysterious is the son of one of the owners who is Sophie's age (and quite handsome.) One of the more mysterious characters is also about her age and he seems to be casing the joint. It is not from this character but in general that Sophie becomes quite sure that the hotel kidnapper is targeting their hotel and that one of the children she is watching might be in danger. 

I saw this on the NPRs Best Books of 2021and it was okay but not quite what I thought it was going to be. 

Three stars

This book came out October 5, 2017

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Spy x Family, Vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo, Casey Loe

I had heard about this book on a number of podcasts and though it might be interesting. I think it is probably a very good book but I might not be the exact demographic for it. 

Three people have been put together to form a family of spies. Well, I don't think they know each other are spies. Even the daughter who is psychic. There is also a dad who frets and a mom who is the muscle. Oh, and a new dog who is also sort of psychic. But precognition rather than reading thoughts.

Three stars

This book came out July 4th, 2019

Followed by Spy x Family, Vol. 2

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

A Dead Djinn in Cairo, by P. Djèlí Clark

Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi finds a dead body that is assumed to be a suicide though she is skeptical. When another body is found with the same strange markings, she really starts to wonder. Then she gets contacted by the member of a secret society and a huge, universe-changing plot is uncovered. 

I heard about this series from the Book Riot podcast and, while this novelette piqued my interest, it was way too short. 

Three stars

This story came out May 18, 2016

Followed by The Angel of Khan el-Khalili

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders

I cannot remember why I added this book to my TBR but I do regret that it took me so long to read it. Sanders (or perhaps his ghost writer) is incredibly witty with a very dry sense of humor. If every story in this book is true, he lived an amazing life. If only half of the stories in this book are true, Sanders still lived an amazing life. 

His life began in Russia where his family wasn't wealthy but they were well-off. At least, they were until they were drummed out of the country. From there, he lived in England and then traveled many places, never holding down a job but having experiences that very few others in life would be able to have. He fell into acting and says that it was mostly because it allowed him to remain lazy. 

His views on women were of the time and probably exaggerated for the book but... eh. 

I will say that the narrator added to the enjoyability.

Four stars

This book came out in 1960

Borrowed as an audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron by Julia Quinn, Violet Charles

With charming pictures and a dedication to keeping the story close to what was described in Quinn's earlier books, this is a bonkers romance. Playing with the over-the-top themes of the gothic romances of the 1800s, this book follows Miss Butterworth from when she was born and most of her family died of the pox, through her drudgery as a child, being reunited with her mother only to watch the woman being pecked to death by pigeons. No, literall.

A short, quick read that you will definitely need an enjoyment of the bizarre to relish. 

Four stars

This book came out May 10, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper

I tore through this book. The main characters, Rowan Thorn and Isidora "Izzy" Avramov are well-developed and both show some growth over the course of the story. Izzy more so because we are in her first-person point of view but we do see some changes in the oh, so handsome Rowan as well. I wish we had gotten a little bit more time to see the relationship between them grow from antagonism to love and the end of the mystery seemed fast but I really liked this book and can't wait for the next one in the series. 

The Avramov family are the local necromancers. It seems obvious that they might have some friction with the Thorns whose magic has an affinty for growing and healing. It doesn't completely explain why Rowan Thorn was so against Izzy working in the local animal adoption center. It does, however, explain all eyes looking to the Avromov family when a thorn is hexed at the local festival. Based on the witch governmental rulings, a representative from each family is allowed to investigate. As the scion of the Thorn family, Rowan is chosen. Izzy's sister is the Avramov scian but she is connected to the arbitrator so Izzy becomes the stand-in. Working together gives them time to talk and to work through old hurts and also solve the problem of who would like to hurt the Thorn family. 

Four stars

This book comes out May 13, 2022

Follows Payback's a Witch

Followed by Back in a Spell

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

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

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

When they were young, Lily Wilder and Leo Grady had a grand romance. And they had plans. But those plans were gone in the blink of an eye when Leo had to go back to New York to take care of his family. A series of missed messages meant that each of them thought the other had moved on. A decade later, Leo's best friend has signed them up for a boys' trip that puts him right back in Lily's orbit. 

I was impressed that the two of them got together quickly and figured out the misunderstanding. They talked! But, there has to be more drama. And... I didn't like the way it all kicked off. It was so unexpected in a Christina Lauren book (I haven't read their whole backlist but I have read a bunch of them) that it took me out of it for the whole rest of the book. Which is too bad because I did like the treasure hunting and the codes were an interesting addition but it got old with Leo solving almost all of them even though the clues were left for Lily. This book reminded me a lot of some Elizabeth Lowell's from the nineties. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 17, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Gallery Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder at Melrose Court by Karen Baugh Menuhin

I saw the description for this on a sale for Audible and was able to get it for free through Kindle Unlimited. It is set in 1920 so I guess that is the Downton Abbey part of the description and it is a mystery so that crosses off the Agatha Christie. I'm not sure where the Wodehouse comes in except maybe it's a

first person narrator who seems sort of feckless. 

Major Heathcliff Lennox is back from the Great War and is trying to figure out how to keep up with the expenses of a big house. Luckily, he has Christmas with his uncle, Charles, and cousin, Edgar, to look forward to. And some other more distant cousins will be there as well. 

Too bad that, shortly before he is set to leave, a fat man turns up dead on his doorstep. In the man's pocket is the name that Lennox knows, that of a Russian countess. It seems like the man died of a heart attack so Lennox keeps heading to Melrose Court. He is very much startled to find that very countess in residence with her niece. And the countess is now engaged to marry his uncle. but she doesn't seem exactly savory nor very discreet as she decides to wear a necklace that once belonged to Lennox. And then she ends up dead with Lennox being discovered over the body holding the gun. 

This is not the last murder to occur in this book and becomes a close thing for Lennox as it becomes clear someone would like him to take the fall.

This was a nice start to a series with some good world and character building. I wish we had learned more about Lennox as there was more time spent on secondary characters.

Three stars

This book came out December 3, 2018

Followed by The Black Cat Murders

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Kiss & The Killer by Melissa Marr

Geneviève Crowe is still beheading the undead and trying to avoid marriage to the faery prince, Eli Stone, to whom she is engaged. Someone has specifically requested her work and it leads her to a posed set of now really-dead draugar. That same someone is trying to take over the role currently held by Geneviève's great-great-etc.-grandmother as the queen of the undead. And she has to deal with that even while her dead genes seem to be taking over. 

There's a lot going on in this book but it moved quickly and left a lot open for the next book. 

Three stars

This book came out April 15, 2021

Follows The Wicked and the Dead

Follows novella Blood Martinis & Mistletoe

Followed by The Hexed and the Hunter

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Lost and Found by Jayne Ann Krentz

Cady Briggs works with antiquities but that isn't the reason her great aunt Vesta left her the majority of shares in her company. The gallery is about to be a part of a big merger and one of Cady's cousins is the CEO of Chatelaine. So, why did Vesta leave those shares to Cady only? In fact, Vesta's death seems very mysterious. But Cady has a secret weapon: Mack Easton. They've worked together to uncover antiques and then verify them before. Mack knows the business and he knows Cady. Plus, he's her Fantasy Man.

Some of Krentz's stories age well. I would not lump this one in with them. Not just the technology but the attitudes of the characters and some of the secondary characters.

Three stars

This book came out November 1, 2001

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey

If you listen to the "Office Ladies" podcast, you will already know many of these stories. But there is enough new content and the stories are edited and polished for a book versus off-the-cuff conversations on the show.

Discussions include story lines, the people they worked with, becoming mothers while on the show, and much more. The great tie is that this is not only a behind-the scenes of The Office, but of their friendship as well. 

I highly enjoyed this book and think that listening to the audiobook was the best way to go.

Four stars

This book came out May 17, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Singles Table by Sara Desai

Zara Patel is concentrating on her work. Being a celebrity lawyer is much more interesting than being matched up by any one of her meddling aunties. And she just wants to have fun at her cousin's wedding and everything leading up to it. Too bad the first gig up is paintball where she meets the infuriating Jay Dayal who is taking it all way too seriously.

Jay has plans in life. He wants to get married to a woman who is classy, likes society, and will decorate his arm without causing embarrassment. Zara shows that she is the exact opposite of... most of those things.

Even though they have a rocky introduction (Zara shoots Jay in the ass with her paintball gun), and it doesn't really get any better, the two finally come to a detente. Zara will help Jay find a wife if he introduces her to some celebrity clients. Of course, spending more time together does produce more fireworks.

I wish the ending hadn't had quite so many road bumps but otherwise enjoyed the book immensely.

Four stars

This book came out November 16, 2021

Follows The Dating Plan

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Blood Martinis & Mistletoe by Melissa Marr

In an alternate universe, Geneviève Crow lives in New Orleans and makes it her business to kill the draugrs, the people who rise from the dead. The problem being that she was poisoned in the first book of this series and nearly died. Now she's dealing with some really gross things (like the need to drink blood) that she had hoped would never have to. This, of course, in addition to still being engaged to a literal faery prince.

A fun interstitial with some character growth that probably would have been confusing in the second book had I not read it.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 18, 2021

Follows The Wicked and the Dead

Followed by The Kiss and the Killer

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

A Matter of Loyalty by Anselm Audley, Elizabeth Edmonson

Hugo, Georgia, and Freya are back for a last adventure. This book was not quite as good which is explained at the end of the story. 

One of the scientists at the "Atomic" has gone missing. It is assumed that he is the one that was leaking scientific information which makes Sir Bernard very happy as he can close out that mystery with a sigh. At least, he could until the man's body shows up with a single gunshot wound in the neck. And Georgia and Polly are the ones to find him which shakes everyone up. 
Old favorites are included in this story. 
Saul Ingram is once again in hot water - he seems to be the easy target to point at for any number of sins
Uncle Leo-the priest and former spy
Aunt Priscilla- still managing  but lovable
New characters
Jarret - in from the Home Defense, was the best man at Freya's aborted wedding
Dr. Arpad Barandy - defecting Hungarian scientist staying at the castle
This was a good series and I liked how Edmonson was building on each successive story. I'm sad that we won't get to see the final stories. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 19, 2017

Follows A Question of Inheritance

Borrowed as Kindle audiobook

Opinions are my own

Murder in an English Glade by Jessica Ellicott

This is the first book I read instead of listening to it and I miss listening to Barbara Rosenblat. Otherwise, it is a fine story wherein Beryl and Edwina actually leave Beeches and stay at a nearby manor which is not only hosting the Girl Guides but also an artists gallery. It is an interesting "case" with the lady of the house asking them to pretend to "investigate" her sister-in-law. Constance knows her sister-in-law, Ursula, is of good virtue but they have a cousin who is determined to make up stories. Especially since Ursula is so mucjyounger than Hubert, Constance's brother, she is afraid that the rumors will be believed.

However, their time at the manor quickly changes when one of the artists, Louis Langdon Beck, is murdered. He was apparently not a nice man but just how not nice is going to be uncovered.

I liked the character building for both Edwina and Beryl in this book. The solution of the mystery felt a little unfinished, like we could have seen more about the killer's motive but it was an overall good story.

Four stars

This book came out October 26, 2021

Follows Murder Comes to Call

Followed by Murder through the English Post

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Wicked and the Dead by Melissa Marr

Geneviève Crowe makes money from killing draugr, the again-walkers of New Orleans. She also kills them because she feels she has to. She realizes the danger but she feels compelled to keep humanity safe. But something weird is happening. The newly risen draugr are acting like they've been dead for decades. Rather than shambling lumps, they are fast-moving and coherent.

As she starts to solve the mstery, the world Marr built starts to unfold. It's very much like ours, but a little more magical. It is also inhabited by fae, including Gen's friend Eli. There's an underlying attraction between the two but she doesn't want to ruin what relationship they have and a romance could change that. But they'll have to work together to figure out what this new venom is and why people who are generally against the existence of the draugr are the once being targeted.

This was an interesting start to a series but there was a lot of info dump and some of the plotlines were a bit disjointed. 

Three stars

This book came out September 2, 2020

Novella follows Blood Martinis & Mistletoe

Followed by The Kiss and the Killer

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

When She Dreams by Amanda Quick

Krentz revisits a former theme and has a main character who practices lucid dreaming. This book doesn't go quite as much into this skill as previous books and I wish we had seen more of Maggie using it to solve what exactly is going on at a California-based psychic dreaming conference. 

There is more reliance on the skills of Sam Sage. Former-police-inspector (now disgraced) private eye Sam doesn't believe in woo-woo type of stuff. But Maggie does make a comment about his coat rack that has him wondering. Really though, she's hired him to figure out who is impersonating her employer, Aunt Cornelia, an advice columnist. 

The romance was great but the mystery felt a little shaky. Still worth a read. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 3, 2022

Follows The Lady Has a Past

Followed by The Bride Wore White

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread November 2022 as audiobook from Libby