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