Lady Avely's Guide to Lies and Charms by Rosalie Oaks

It has been nine years since Dacian killed Lord Charles Garvey and it is time for him to determine what actually happened that night. While he has always believed what he saw, he now wonders if there may not have been some Musing (magic) involved in the story. He and Judith head out with Judith’s husband’s son, Robert, to see what they can uncover.

All is not well at Garvey House  however. Lady Garvey refuses visitors and her granddaughter, Georgina seems to be a prisoner. The current Lord Gavey, Charles’ brother Kenneth, won’t come to the house at all, preferring to stay in the village. 

The story took a LONG time for me to get into and I had to power my way from about a quarter in to the two-thirds mark where it picked up again. There was a leap into the story that happened seven years ago that didn't make sense to me and then a lot of side characters that may be building to the overall arc of the story but didn't provide much other than very temporary red herrings for the end of the story. 

Three stars

Matronly Misadventures #2

This book came out November 13, 2024

Follows Lady Avely's Guide to Truth and Magic

Followed by Lady Avely's Guide to Guile and Peril

ARC kindly provided by Parkerville Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Larceny and Old Lace by Tamar Myers

This book is definitely of its time and did not age well. The characters feel like caricatures and I didn't connect with ay of them, I clouding thr first person author. 

Abigail Timberlake is running an antiquities store after her husband divorced her. She's living for free in her aunt's home and blatantly disrespecting the rules set put for her (they're a little onerous but not so bad that she should be biting the hand that feeds her.) The board she's on for the area where she has her shop is up in arms about another shop in town... Abigails's aunt. So, when said aunt is murdered, it could have been any one of a number of people.

Two and a half stars

Den of Antiquity #1

This book came out June 1, 1996

Followed by Gilt by Association

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder & Mayhem by Bethany Barker

Suzie Tuft writes textbooks and goes on various speaking tours and conferences. She's coming back from one of the latter when she decides to stretch her legs. A mysterious smell has her looking over a hill on her rural road. A red piece of fabric dancing in the wind catches her eye and then she noticaes a nearby boot. Both are attached to a dead body. 

She doesn't know the man herself but Suzie discovers that he was on that road to come and visit her. This sends her off on a mystery that involves her ex-boyfriend and a lot of hindering a police investigation. 

Three stars

Suzie Tuft Mystery #1

This book came out April 2, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Duggar Vuolo

I listened to Vuolo's second book first and there was some overlap, especially when she talks about being a people pleaser. There's not much about her family but there is a lot about their religion and why she believed what she did, and why she stop believing. 

Three stars

This book came out January 31, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Arsenic and Old Lies by Benedict Brown

The last book was left on a cliffhanger. Marius and Bella he just returned from solving another crime and Marius had discovered the body of someone Bella loved in his living room. Now, he has to figure out what to do next. And that is to apparently ignore the body completely (an amatuer detective who follows police orders? I'm not sure how to process this.) In fact, this particular murder isn't really touched on again until the end of the story. 

Instead, Marious, needing inspiration to get around his writer's block, decides to investigate a cold case. In particular, he chooses the case of Felicity Mortimer who was accused of poisoning her much older, infirm husband. The case interests him because the evidence seemed so thin but the judge was so overly irate in his sentencing.

While Marious does some investigating on his own, Bella does eventually joins his efforts. There will be two more murders before the two can finally figure out what is going on, and what actually happened fifteen years ago.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me but the suspects were certainly a group of characters who, while maybe not fully fleshed out, were entertaining.

Three and a half stars

Marius Quin Mystery #5

This book came out July 11, 2025

Follows A Body at the Grand Hotel

Followed by The Holly Village Murders

ARC kindly provided Storm Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Born in Shame by Nora Roberts

Shannon Bodine has just had some rather upsetting news. While her mother is dying, Shannon is told that the man she grew up with is not her biological father. These days, that's not as big a deal but this book was originally written in '96 when people might have cared. Shannon, however, freaks out and decides that he's not really her father. So when a message  comes from Ireland, her heretofore unknown half-sisters want to meet her, she's cautiously curious. 

When she arrives in Ireland, she meets Maggie (from Born in Fire) and Brianna (Born in Ice) and their husbands. She also meets next-door-neighbor and simple farmer Murphy. Murphy is literally struck dumb. 

The two lead very different lifestyles but there is a spark that can't be denied.

Not as good as the first book, this is my third favorite in the series by only a little bit. Murphy is the least interesting of the three heroes and Shannon is a little bit annoying. This book also ages the worst with the most mentions of things that are jarring to the modern eye (I had a whole list as I was reading and now I can only remember cigarettes and asbestos.)

Three stars

This book came out January 1, 1996

Born in Trilogy #3

Follows Born in Ice

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Murder Kingdom by Fred Van Lente

An interesting storyline. Things are going crazy in a thinly-veiled ripoff of Disney. Characters are going crazy. People are dying. It's going to be up to Tanith to try and survive as well as save her friends.

The artistic style was interesting. I didn't always realize that characters were the same people as the expressions/look wasn't particularly consistent. Interesting premise. 

Three stars

This book came out May 20th, 2025

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own