The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen

TW: casual racism
The latest play sensation includes the sounds of gunfire and a dip into the underworld of the mob. What it's not supposed to include is a dead body. But such is the world's introduction to Ellery Queen and his father. And it was a good mystery with the now famous "stop" that lets readers try and deduce for themselves who would want to kill a lawyer by poisoning him with gasoline. 
I vaguely knew about this story but it was really the Classic Mysteries podcast that sparked my interest. I wish there had been some warning about the Queen's houseboy Juno and some of the terms used to describe him that definitely wouldn't be used today.

Three stars
This book came out June 27th, 1929
Followed by The French Powder Mystery
Borrowed this audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

The Strange Case of Harriet Hall by Moray Dalton

I really wish that the added postscript on this story hadn't been included in the ebook version on Kindle. It is definitely dated and said some things that are seriously tone deaf in today's society (although I think it was added recently?). It would have been easy enough to leave out since it wasn't included in the original story anyway; it was a psychological interpretation of the mystery's ending added later.
Harriet Hall might be a generally unpleasant person but Amy Steer is delighted that a long-lost aunt has found her. After her mother died, Amy went to London with what little money she had left and the hopes of finding a job. But those hopes, like her bank account, are fading fast. She is delighted that her aunt has asked her up to live with her in the country and given her 100 pounds to go shopping with. On the train ride up, she meets a young man who is pleasing in every way until he finds out the name of her aunt. When he does, he flees.
Amy is disappointed to not see her aunt at the railway station and even more disappointed when she carries her suitcase all the way to her aunt's house only to find the woman gone. The next day, the pleasant young man, Tony Deene, comes over to apologize. But he discovers her aunt's body in the well and that sets off a mystery that isn't particularly fairly clued but was okay to follow. 
We really get to know Tony's family as they seem to be the most to gain by having Harriet Hall be dead. But then, something unexpected about Harriet is discovered that seems to turn the whole mystery on its head.
I honestly would have rounded this two and a half star book up to three stars if it hadn't been for the Afterword. I picked this up based on a review by the Classic Mysteries podcast.

Two and a half stars
This book came out in 1936
Ebook I own on Kindle
Opinions are my own

The Mane Attraction by Shelly Laurenston

We know from the previous book that Mitch Shaw was an undercover policeman who witnessed an act that would put a bad guy away for a long, long time. So, said bad guy definitely wants to kill him. 

Sissy Mae Smith has been friends with Mitch for awhile. So she's sort of shocked when she wakes up in the lion-shifter's bed the morning after her brother's wedding. She's even more shocked when Mitch gets shot. 

Realizing that the only safe place for Mitch is going to be her hometown, Sissy Mae sweeps him away. There they have to contend not only with the killer but with a brother that hates her and a town full of wolf shifters who definitely hate felines. 

There was a little too much going on in this book but it was still a fun read.

Three stars
Follows The Beast in Him
Followed by The Mane Squeeze
This book came out November 1st, 2008
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

Christmas on Peach Tree Lane by Jules Bennett

 If you don't mind your heroines hyper-perky, this is going to be an okay book. Violet Calhoun is an event planner (with some sort of store front?) who is coordinating the fiftieth anniversary of the Tinsel Tour in her tiny town. With a photographer and journalist from Southern Homes. While planning her mother's wedding. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe the gentleman who owns the crown jewel of the tour (a plantation... with nary a discussion of the problems with plantation owning; just Violet being all moony over the big rooms) passes away in the summer. And his super-hot workaholic grandson won't respond to Violet's many, many, many, many attempts to get a hold of him. 
But it's okay. Brady is super annoyed by her until he notices that she's awfully cute. And she just wears him down. Not okay for a hero, not okay for a heroine. Seriously.
There wasn't even any competency-porn because we didn't even get to see Violet decorating for the tour or even planning the wedding (other than a dress shopping trip that gets interrupted.) I finished the book because I was so close to being done and I really liked Violet's friendships.

Two stars
This book came out November 30th, 2020
Borrowed from CloudLibrary
Opinions are my own

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

 TW: Sibling death
Twice this week, I've started reading a book only to be unexpectedly hit with a sibling dying. Brosh handles it so much better than the other book I was reading. It is one of her shorter chapters but she is able to delve into the grief one feels as well as the unmooring it creates.
And it is a testament to her writing that she had me laughing (first the buildup of the story of her sneaking over to her neighbor's house as a young child and then following up with the story of horse poop mysteriously showing up in her family's home and detailing the suspects... I was in stitches) then sobbing, and then laughing again.
I highly recommend getting this book as a hard copy. I read Brosh's first book that way and enjoyed seeing the colors of each section and getting to see my progress. It was much less satisfying in the ebook form.

Five stars

This book came out September 22nd, 2020

Borrowed as an ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

A Tale of Two Dragons by G. A. Aiken

 When your father is a plotter and the rest of the family doesn't really want you, sometimes the best you can do is stay hidden. That is what Braith of the Darkness is trying to do. But now she's suddenly been asked to help escort a lady to her home and her crush is going along on the trip. The crush that seems to be very admiring of the lady who is the antithesis of Braith.
Addolgar the Cheerful is a Cadwaladr, a family of fighters. He's willing to help a lady. However, if that lady tries to poison him... well, all bets are off. It's a good thing that Braith not only saves him initially but then helps get him away from the people that were going to make sure he was really most sincerely dead.
This is a short story but we still get a sense of who both Braith and Addolgar are. We also get to see why they are attracted to each other and what it is that each admires about the other. All with a sense of fun that permeates the entire Dragon Kin series.

Four stars
Dragon Kin #0.2

This novella came out November 5th, 2013

Follows Can't Get Enough
Followed by Dragon on Top
Borrowed from OverDrive
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audio Plus January 2024

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

 Ugh. Alyssa Cole. Why do you do this to me? I settle in for a few chapters before bed and then get pulled into the story of a woman who has been planning to be a queen for years. Her whole life, really. And she came awfully close in an earlier Cole book. But now, Shanti Mohapi is so close. Except, in the kingdome of Njazi, only the True Queen will stay married to the king. Everyone else is cut off after four months. Three months into her marriage, Shanti is beginning to lose hope. The new king seems dazed and uninterested. 
Sanyu was raised in a patriarchal society where men rule with an iron fist and the king can show no weakness. But he is mourning his father's death and unsure of whether he can step into the large shoes left by the former king. However, he's starting to wake up. And he's noticing that his wife is not only intelligent, she wants what is best for the kingdom. Plus, he's really attracted to her.
Shanti definitely could have been painted as too rigid in pursuing her dreams, but Cole has written a likable character who is just going after what she wants without tossing anyone else under the bus on the way. Sanyu was also believable. A kid growing up in a bad situation but one who is learning and growing from his situation. I did think the book dragged a little in the middle but the ending was incredibly satisfying and I loved seeing characters from previous books in the series.

Four stars

Followed by How to Find a Princess
This book came out December 1st, 2020
Borrowed the book from CloudLibrary
Opinions are my own