Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite heroines is back again. Vicky Bliss is on the case once again as she's searching for a lost cache of Scandinavian treasure. One perfect rose (not, alas, a limousine for either she or Dorothy Parker) sends her off on a trip to the land of her ancestors. A trip where she encounters a lost love, a bad guy who does silhouettes, and an extended stay on a millionaire's island. 

Another great story and very enjoyable as an audiobook, not as good when I reread as a physical copy. Rosenblat makes the angst fun but it was a little overwrought in the written word. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1983

Follows Street of the Five Moons

Followed by Trojan Horse

Borrowed as an ebook from the CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

This was a hard one to grade because it was a good story, just not as good as the first. I enjoyed the addition to the world building. 

Jace Berisha used to be married to the leader of a cult, a cult her mother still belongs to. Jace was subservient, meek, and never spoke back. All that changed when he killed her. She was granted special powers by a goddess and became a part of the Crows. Now she's part of a group of women that work to serve the goddess. And they're going up against a Big Bad. One they thought they had defeated. And one that they'll have to get their traditional enemies to buy in and work together in order to defeat for real.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 29th, 2016

Follows the Unleashing
Followed by The Undoing
Opinions are my own

What the Hex by Alexis Daria

It's been five years since Catalina Cartagena left Isla Bruja. She was a clothing bewitching whiz and burned out early. She's been in New York and hasn't used her magic since then. Now she's back for her oldest sister's wedding. But something is amiss on the magical island and the only other person who seems to realize that something is wrong is Diego Paz, Cat's high school nemesis and brother of the groom. Not wanting to alarm anyone over the fact that the groom seems possessed, Cat and Diego work together to make sure that their respective families' power isn't overtaken and they don't have niblings that are literal demon spawn. 

A short story but richly woven. Alexis Daria creates a magic world with deft strokes and minimal description. The characters have a depth that is surprising in such a short story. My only complaint is really how short it is. With Daria's skill, this would have been an amazing full-length novel. I really hope this isn't the only book set in this world. 

Four and a half stars

This audionovella came out July 1st, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

The Grumpy Player Next Door by Pippa Grant

Tillie Jean Rock is the sister of baseball superstar (well, at least he's really well known in Copper Valley) Cooper Rock. She got involved with one of his teammates ONCE and now her brother is paranoid about her seeing anyone else. Sure, she flirts with most of them but they all know it's not serious. The only one who might reasonably hold her interest is Max Cole but he's avoiding her because Cooper is his best friend on the team and he doesn't want to screw up that relationship. Plus, he had a really complicated childhood and doesn't want to inflict his angst on to anyone else. 

But Max has moved next door to Tillie Jean in the off season and suddenly the close proximity means all bets are off...

One of my least favorite tropes is the "we can't date because you're my sibling's friend." And this book leans hard into Cooper not taking their relationship well. Grant tries to turn it around and make the prank war between Tillie Jean and her siblings amp up because of it but it didn't really click for me. Also, I never really saw that Max was trying to work through his issues with romance. In a romance novel. I wish we had seen more introspection and working toward healing from his crappy childhood but it mostly seemed magically resolved. 

Three stars

This book came out July 8th, 2021

Copper Valley Fireballs #3

Follows Real Fake Love

Followed by Irresistible Trouble

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible book December 2025

The Herring-Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

What is a mystery writer but someone who sells red herrings? And Ethelred Tressider certainly counts as a writer. In fact, he counts as three of them -- two mystery series and one romance. His publisher, Elsie Thirkettle doesn't think much of any of them but they earn him enough to live on so he keeps churning them out. Until his life is derailed by a real-life mystery, the murder of his ex-wife, Geraldine. It seems she left him for his best friend about a decade ago but never really changed her will so Ethelred is still in charge of her estate. 

Elsie is immediately suspicious because she is immediately suspicious of anything having to do with Geraldine. The woman was a menace and she still kept Ethelred flopping on a line. And apparently he wasn't the only one. Geraldine was building some sort of scheme and had bilked a large number of people out of money so there were lots of reasons for someone to want her dead.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Ethelred and Elsie, this book is an interesting introduction to a new series. Rather than have a stellar author with all bestsellers, the main protagonist (we have far more Ethelred chapters than Elsie chapters) is middling at best. His "partner" looks down on him with some scorn, some affection and she too sort of bumbles into the solution in the end. 

The book occasionally got bogged down and, even with this being my second Ethelred and Elsie book, I'm not sure I like either of them but I'm definitely going to still read the next book. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 2007

Followed by Ten Little Herrings

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own

August Rereads

No rereads this month. Too busy running, paddleboarding, and biking, I guess:)

Be My Ghost by Carol J. Perry

Maureen Doherty is reeling from the fact that her job at a clothing department store is gone now that the store is out of business. She's not sure what she's going to do and is grateful that her boss gives her a last check and a lucky coin that falls out of her desk drawer as she's leaving. When she gets home, she discovers that she's inherited an in in Haven, Florida, a place she only visited once. What is she to do except pack up her belongings and her beloved golden retriever, Finn and head on down?

When she gets to Haven House Inn, she's surprised to discover that not only does she have a full staff, there are also some year-round residents in addition to the short stays and also some... well, some not so alive guests. Including one who was alive only a little while earlier.

This is a really fun start to a new series (I think) with not too much world building but enough to make it understandable and relatable. Do we know why there are ghosts in the hotel? Maybe not but it's not a necessary part of the story so why add it in? The ghosts didn't add much to the actual mystery other than the fact that the man who was killed was a ghost hunter who may or may not have figured out how to capture the ghosts on film but I think that may be added in to later books in the series.

Four stars

This book comes out August 31st, 2021

Followed by High Spirits

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Publishing Corp. and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own