An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn

Veronica and Stoker are returning from Alpenwald with a thoroughly... distinctive... cheese and also a small child. The latter is Lady Cordelia's son though, because she is unmarried, she is pretending to have adopted the child. They are barely home when they are visited by Sir Hugo Montgomerie who has a personal request. This case also hits close to home for Veronica and causes her some pause. 

It seems Sir Hugo has a goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. Euphemia is above reproach (according to Sir Hugo) but it seems that her family is in an uproar because her long-lost brother Jonathon, heir to the family mansion, has returned. At least, a man claiming to be Jonathon has returned. But there are no family members who knew the man more recently still alive. In fact, one of the last people to see him was Veronica herself. 

So the two travel to the Hathaway estate and Veronica is shocked that she recognizes the man who appears. Of course, being Stoker and Veronica, there are layers upon layers and we learn more about Veronica's past than we knew before.

I don't really recommend this book to people who are new to the series but regular Raybourn readers will be delighted. We don't see as much growth from Stoker but there is a new mystery, a new Big Bad, mentions of science and history that are woven seamlessly into the story, and everything readers adore. 

Four stars

This book comes out February 15th, 2022

Follows An Unexpected Peril

Followed by A Sinister Revenge

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile

I honestly wasn't sure who Brandi Carlile was but the NPR Best Books of 2021 made it sound so good. And it really was. With the story of Carlile's life interwoven with songs that she wrote and that meant something to her, we learn about her own history from her own mouth. I highly recommend listening to the audibook because I just don't think reading it would be the same. Especially when so many of the stories are so personal including growing up so poor, working through her own fame, and falling in love with a good friend.

Four stars

This book came out April 6, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Secrets of Lord Grayson Child by Stephanie Laurens

Lord Grayson Child is peeved. Someone has discovered his secret. And not only have they uncovered it, they are threatening to expose it on the front page of the London Crier. That's why he's standing outside the offices waiting for everyone to leave, because then he can confront the owner. But he's not expecting the know the owner much less have a past with them.

Lady Isadora "Izzy" Descartes never expected to see Grayson Child again. Ten years earlier, he had seemed on the brink of proposing and then... he was gone. Left destitute by her gambling father, Gray had seemed like the perfect man, someone she could love and who could save her family. But then he was gone. So she learned how to earn money for herself, running a London gossip sheet. 

I do like it when characters in a shorter story have history. It means that them falling in love makes more sense. It also makes sense then that Izzy and Gray would be able to move in lock step when a dead body, a murdered body, shows up in her dark room. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 15, 2021

Follows The Games Lovers Play

Followed by Foes, Friends and Lovers 

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Murder Cuts the Mustard by Jessica Ellicott, Barbara Rosenblat

The book opens with Edwina learning to drive. Right before she crashes the car, Beryl catches a glimpse of the gardener, Simpkins, in the gardening shed. He is decidedly in a state of undress. But why is he living in the shed? Unfortunately, it seems he's quarreled with his brother-in-law and has left the house. That's unfortunate because the brother-in-law ends up dead. Of course, Constable Gibbs is going to go for the easy answer and arrest Simpkins.

Of course, Beryl and Edwina are going to prove that he is innocent. Especially since Beryl saw at least two other men had argued with Hector in the pub the day previous.

I love that these books focus as much on Edwina and Beryl as they do on the mysteries that they are solving. We see both grow a little more (and even Simpkins in some surprising ways). 

Four stars

This book came out October 29, 2019

Follows Murder Flies the Coop

Followed by Murder Comes to Call

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Drive by Daniel H. Pink

It seems to be common knowledge that people work better if they have some sort of carrot that they're striving toward. Say, monetary compensation. But there is a LOT of evidence that seems to point out that this is one of those "known facts" that just isn't true. We reward the good and punish the bad, but is this really the best way to encourage people? How would this explain things like Wikipedia or Firefox where people are being neither tangibly rewarded nor punished. Instead, they participate because it's good for the programmer community, it will boost their knowledge, and because it helps boost their creativity and it's fun ("flow").

Even more surprising, studies have shown that incentives often cause people to do <i>worse</i>. But not all extrinsic incentives are bad. Mixing rewards with inherently noble tasks usually keeps people working. 

The ingredients for genuine motivation are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. If people have these (either already set in place or can create them for themselves), they tend to work harder.

Pink also discussed "Type I" people (intrinsically motivated, more concerned about the happiness found in doing the project) vs. "Type X" people (extrinsically motivated, done for personal gain).

There's a nice chapter-by-chapter review at the end. 

Is it riveting? Not really. Did I forget that I had listened to it before? Yes, I did. But some of the ideas are interesting and it is something to listen to.

Three and a half stars

This book came out December 29, 2009

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Death in Disguise by Emma Davies

Francesca Eve is a caterer extraordinaire but her life is pretty normal: husband, daughter, work. She caters a murder mystery party and, while avoiding one of the guests, meets Adam a shy game designer who is also avoiding the party. Life goes on until a few days later when one of the guests dies. Adam comes to Fran terrified that his mother, the host of the party, is going to jail for murder. From there, the two of them work to find out the answer to this strange mystery.

The writing of this book was smooth and I would probably read another series by this author. It is the main reason that I kept reading this book because, this whole book, I kept wondering why Francesca was involved. She met this guy once, has no romantic interest in him, and really no other connection. I think she's supposed to feel bad for him in some way but she starts neglecting her job and lying to her husband which would have been fine if she had been set up as needing some excitement in her life or SOMETHING but that reason is unclear and nagged at me the whole time. I did like some of the flipping of scripts in secrets people were apparently hiding and what they were actually hiding but the ending was also just a little too convoluted for me.

Three stars

This book comes out February 9, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Bookouture and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala

Lila, her friends and family are back in the second of the Tita Rosie's Kitchen mysteries. She is still recovering from the events of the first book but still preparing to set up her own cafe. Plus, there are the two eligible bachelors floating in her vicinity. Now, Detective Park is asking her to help with why someone would have sent a note threatening the local beauty pageant. 

Lila is reluctant to get back into the beauty pageant world. It brings up some memories of her mother that she's rather not have at that forefront. Pile that on top of the fact that she is still dealing with PTSD from her near murder in the last book and there's a lot going on in her head right now. But she goes and appreciates the updates that Valerie Thompson has made to the program, dragging everyone kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but at least there's no evening gown section. Lila is also excited to get to know Sana, one of the other judges. Too bad Valerie's brother, Rob, is clearly such a jerk, hitting on every woman there, including the underage ones. Does that mean he should end up dead? Probably not. But he is and Lila is one of the people who find him.

I liked most of the mystery but felt that it didn't really come together well. There were a couple of hints of what was going to happen but it mostly came out of left field. I am mostly enjoying Lila's journey and seeing how supportive her family and friends are. t is also really nice to see an author addressing the fact that an amateur sleuth would be dealing with mental issues if they were almost killed; it makes Lila seem much more real. It makes I also enjoyed the writing style, even snorting a drink through my nose when Lila started talking about love triangles. 

Four stars

This book comes out February 9th, 2022

Follows Arsenic and Adobo

Followed by Blackmail and Bibingka

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own