strange and random happenstance

Redwall by Brian Jacques
Published by: Philomel Books
Publication Date: October 23rd, 1986
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The festivities at Redwall Abbey are underway for Abbot Mortimer's Golden Jubilee. It is the Summer of the Late Rose and the abbey has been blessed with peace and abundance. As the inhabitants scurry about with last minute preparations there's Matthias, tumbling cowl over tail, scattering the hazelnuts. Oh how he longs to be graceful and brave like Martin the Warrior, the founder of Redwall Abbey, whose tales of derring-do have always transported him. But as the Abbot tells Matthias, we are now an order of peace. The time of Martin and his famous sword and shield are over. The Abbey is a place of happiness and refuge as all the denizens of Mossflower Woods arrive to celebrate the Abbot. But that night a horrific scene unfolds on the road outside the Abbey walls that Matthias and Constance the Badger witness. A large Portuguese water rat and his army are on the road. They were astride a demented horse and cart. A council is called that night. The rumors of Cluny the Scourge seem to be true. He is the worst kind of warlord and the Abbey has to be prepared because it doesn't look as if Cluny is just passing through. He has set up camp at the Church of St. Ninian's and has his eye on the Abbey. It would be the perfect seat for his empire, Cluny's Castle. Plus the mice will surely just hand it over to him without a fight. They're just little mice, he has a rat army! Little does Cluny know that while they are a peaceful order now they were founded by a true warrior and they will protect those who need protecting. When Cluny arrives at Redwall Abbey with the articles of surrender that all his conquests must abide by he is shocked by their iron will and then terrified by a tapestry of Martin the Warrior. Cluny is transfixed by the image of Martin as he is the shadowy figure that has been haunting the rat's dreams. Shaken, the rats leave the Abbey to regroup. And then Cluny attacks by stealth and steals the tapestry, at once capturing the object of his nightmares while trying to demoralize the mice by removing the effigy of their protector. He underestimated the mice, Redwall prepares to protect itself at any cost, even war. As Matthias bemoans to Brother Methuselah, if only they had Martin the Warrior's sword and shield they might stand a chance against the Scourge. But Methuselah tells Matthias that the young mouse is so like Martin that perhaps, given the clues built into the very Abbey walls, that these totems can be recovered and used to spur them on to victory. Though a sword is, in the end, just a sword, and it's the true warriors that will win the day.

I learned about Brian Jacques's Redwall series at Christmas in 1993. Friends of our family who always gave me and my brother books for Christmas got him Martin the Warrior. This was the first time I saw a sword wielding rodent on the cover of a book under Brian Jacques's name, but it would certainly not be the last. As my mother started as a grade school librarian at my old school when I started high school her job was to keep up with the trends, and the biggest trend was Redwall. Our local bookstore had a wall dedicated to Brian Jacques just as you entered on the left hand wall and that was usually the first stop when stocking up on books for the school library. The thing about each and every one of these books is they are just beautifully done, the covers, the chapter art, even if you've never read them or plan to read them, you covet them for your bookshelves. All twenty-two of them in the end. I finally got around to reading Redwall for the first time in 2000, my guess is that the added exposure from the the television series made me finally bite the bullet. I enjoyed it enough to read the second book, Mossflower, which, as I found out, was not the sequel. But if you're a fan of this series you know there are multiple flowcharts and timelines to study if you really want to do a deep dive. Picking this book up again a quarter century later I was enchanted by it. Sure, there's a lot of death, but there's this comradery, just a whole bunch of people coming together and defeating the baddie without dissension while also having amazing vegetarian cuisine. This was just the right book at the right time to make me feel good and cozy while also wanting to topple tyranny. Though I think I'm the exact audience for this book, it was written in the eighties and released when I was eight, so it fully embraces the traumatize your child vibe that us eighties kids know so well. It's The Secret of NIMH meet Cadfael meets The Name of the Rose, whose star-studded adaptation came out the same year in wonderful synchronicity. A comfort despite all the death and destruction, which I think anyone who has watched The NeverEnding Story ad infintum knows aren't mutually exclusive feels. Though this one has more of a human element than later volumes, which Jacques says was intentional. But I still would love a deep dive on where the hell the idea for Basil Stag Hare came from. Is he a time traveler from WWII? I mean, I love animals thinking they're secret agents and spies, the foxes in the Rivers of London series being the prime example, but for a pseudo medieval world this was just weird. But I like weird, so we're all good.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brian Jacques, Cadfael, Christmas, Cluny the Scourge, Eighties, Library, Martin the Warrior, Matthias, Redwall, The Name of the Rose, The Neverending Story, The Secret of Nimh, Top Ten, Vegetarian Cuisine

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
Published by: Avon Books
Publication Date: September 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Maggie Chase has been having a hell of a year. Not only did she find out that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend but he was able to worm his way into a "legitimate" claim as co-writer of her cozy mysteries. He took everything. And she gets the consolation prize of overhearing her fellow authors discuss her downfall at her publisher's Christmas party. What's worse is the eager listener is none other than Ethan Wyatt, Leather Jacket Guy. One of her least favorite things in the world and he just happens to be a number one New York Times bestselling author. Her other two least favorite things are Christmas and parties. She knew she should have stayed home. But her editor Deborah insisted. Back in her office she hands Maggie an envelope. Maggie has been invited to the home of one of her biggest fans in England for Christmas. This is a nightmare. She was lured to one party to invite her to another. Deborah insists that this is legit and that something very big might be coming Maggie's way if she just gets on that plane. What Deborah didn't tell her was that Ethan Wyatt would also be on that plane. He would be there, calling her Marcie, and just being all leather clad and in her face. Though perhaps it's worth it as they cross the stone bridge and approach the palace made of stone and glass and centuries. They have arrived at Mistletoe Manor. Ethan is sure that someone wants to hunt them for sport and Maggie insists that that's the plot to an Eleanor Ashley novel. The author who has been with her as a guiding light her entire life who Ethan claims to have never heard of. Maggie's frayed paperbacks are nothing compared to the wall of first editions at her publisher's office. That's why she signed with Killhaven Books, because they're Eleanor's publisher. And then all the pieces click into place and she realizes that her host for Christmas is none other than Eleanor Ashley. Well, that and the fact that Eleanor is standing right behind her. She will be spending Christmas with the Duchess of Death. And her family. All of whom have ulterior motives. Eleanor is a wealthy woman, and where there is wealth there are those wanting to separate you from it. Even if you are related to them by blood. But as a storm moves in Eleanor disappears from a locked room. Is this stunt? Is she in danger? Cut off from the outside world Maggie and Ethan are the only ones capable of investigating what has happened to Eleanor and revealing all the secrets held in Mistletoe Manor. Even their own.

This is a book I was determined to love. I mean, even if it wasn't great anything was better than the cover. Seriously, that artwork, those horrid fonts, who designed this and where do they live!?! And there are aspects of the book I love, the leads have chemistry, there's incisive observations on what it's like to be gaslit and how that seeps into your every single decision, plus Thrombey level relatives. But there are two things I can't get past. Maggie and Ethan have wonderful snarky banter when she's under the misapprehension that they are each other's nemesis. And then halfway through the book her eyes are opened as Ethan comes in as a second narrator and the book stagnates. Now it's not that they aren't the perfect couple, because there are swoonworthy moments, it's that the pacing and the mystery of Eleanor Ashley are forgotten and it's more important for them to make out next to the entrance to the secret tunnel than to explore said secret tunnel. It was so...damn...glacial. I raced through the first half of the book and then limped to the finish line. That is not a momentum you should strive for in your storytelling. Yet, that could have been forgiven and forgotten. Because, as I've said, they are a perfect couple who I might have wished stayed more snarky than Nick and Nora once they hooked up, but then Ally Carter ruined it in the end. How you ask? Well, that requires spoilers, which I'm totally about to drop. You have been warned. So Ally Carter got the idea for this novel after learning about Agatha Christie's disappearance. This is a mystery that will endure forever. Where was she for those eleven days? Was it a mental break? Was it a PR stunt? Was she undercover solving a mystery? Was it giant alien space wasps? And yes, these are all theories that have been posited. Obviously one on Doctor Who, so that one probably isn't accurate. Or is it? So here's the fictional Eleanor Ashley, key FICTIONAL. She magics herself away from a locked room and the answer for how she did it is that she's Eleanor Ashley. That is a freakin' cop out of the highest magnitude. This is fiction, fiction is for resolution, not for giving us yet another unsolved mystery. This just enraged me. I was strongly reminded of the book Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois which was a fictionalized account of the Amanda Knox case. Again, fictional. And we got no resolution. None. And in the case of Cartwheel it has the EXACT SAME setup only for the answers to life's greatest mysteries to be what? Ineffable? Give me the answers or get out of my face. Which means that Ally Carter can still save this book with an additional epilogue for the paperback release. Let's make it so.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Ally Carter, Amanda Knox, Cartwheel, Christmas, Eleanor Ashley, Ethan Wyatt, Fictional, Jennifer DuBois, Maggie Chase, Murder Most Foul, Resolution, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: October 17th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Ashley Smith and Emma Chapman might look alike and matriculate at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London but that is where their similarities begin and end. Ashley is American, parentless, and never says the right thing. Whereas Emma is posh, wears cashmere, and grew up surrounded by her family in a manor house in the Cotswolds. She's perfect and always knows the right thing to say. Like when she heard that Ashley would be spending Christmas alone and invited her to join the family celebrations at Stravewood Hall. That was just the absolutely perfect thing to say and do. And here Ashley thought that Emma didn't like her. Now they will be the best of friends. Ashley is off to Clevemoor for Christmas! It's like something out of a romance novel or a murder mystery, a house that's all stone and stained glass and beams across the ceiling and servants quarters! But the real attraction comes in the form of Emma's brother, Adam. He's like Michelangelo's "David" come alive, but with cigarette breath and a penchant for whiskey. If Ashley's luck holds she might actually be in a romance. Though Ashley can't deny the evidence of her eyes when she goes with the siblings to the local pup, the Sheepfold. There she learns about Joanna Davies, a girl who went missing last summer, who might just have been dating Adam. He was questioned by the police and some still suspect him. But the oddest part is that Joanna and Ashley look alike. Her holiday is veering quickly toward the Gothic, a little bit creepy, and little bit sexy. Though Adam then fucks off back to London so Ashley doesn't know what to make of that. Especially as he left her a lovely Christmas present, a white cashmere scarf to keep her warm. Warm on her walks through the woods where she sees a menacing figure with a big bushy beard. Gothic thriller it is then now that the romantic lead has left. She shouldn't have doubted it when she's the doppelganger of a dead girl. Or when Emma returns to Stravewood Hall after being accosted by the menacing figure of Father Christmas. The same figure Ashley had seen. And that is all Ashley wrote. Because her diary ends prior to her brutal death. A diary that Emma has kept all these years with a newspaper article clipped and saved in the back detailing Ashley's murder. Because Emma "killed "Ashley. Set her up as the perfect victim. But why?

This is a novella in two parts. The first part, Ashley's diary, is perfection. It contains the hopes and desires of a young girl who is lovestruck and experiencing the Christmas of her dreams. Until it devolves into a nightmare. The second part is Emma explaining what actually happened and the guilt that weighs her down as she lives under another name in a country far from her family. Because the truth is, pause for spoiler, her brother, Adam, is a serial killer. And all his victims remind him of his sister. Because obviously he's working up to killing her. Which means way back in the eighties she invited Ashley to Stravewood Hall to be her brother's next victim. Ashley was the sacrificial lamb. Which is interesting when you look back on the events of her time in the Cotswolds. I actually liken it to what happened in season two of The White Lotus. Greg takes Tonya to Italy so that his old acquaintances, the 'Evil Gays,' can kill her. She's given the holiday of anyone's dreams. She is treated like a princess. In other words, she is given the treatment that you would give your dog on it's last day alive. Now I'm not denigrating dogs, I'm denigrating any humans who use the excuse of giving someone a perfect experience as some sort of balancing of the scales prior to murder. You can not balance out the scales here. One really good Christmas is not worth a lifetime of Christmases. Now if the person was actually dying, like said dog, well, then it's a sweet denouement to a life, not the brutal theft of a future. The problem I have with this second half is the ghostly aspect. We went from a top-notch, moody, thriller of a period piece with a lovesick narrator to a pale imitation of A Christmas Carol. Yes, Emma has a few more literal ghosts in her closet, but I feel like she should have had some sort of epiphany earlier. It shouldn't have taken her thirty years to get up the courage to rat out her brother. Because it wasn't just Ashley and Joanna, oh no, he's been killing all along. He's racked up quite the body count and if you were connected to one of the victims, how would you feel knowing that there was this person out there who could have stopped it? Personally Emma being haunted and on the run her entire life doesn't in the least make up for not speaking up. She's been a coward her entire life and, with regard to Ashley, a conspirator. I mean, I'll give the story props for trying something new, and I did enjoy it, it's just that it could have been something more. Something original, not Dickensian part deux.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Ashley Smith, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Cotswolds, Emma Chapman, Gothic, Manor House, Murder Most Foul, Mystery, Novella, Peter Swanson, Serial Killer, The Christmas Guest, The White Lotus

An English Murder by Cyril Hare
Published by: Faber and Faber
Publication Date: 1951
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

This will be Viscount Warbeck's last Christmas. Which is why he's invited those near and dear to him to Warbeck Hall, rumored to be the oldest inhabited house in Markshire. Which is why Dr. Wenceslaus Bottwink, a survivor of the Third Reich and the concentration camps, is visiting the house; not because he's near or dear, but because of the history within the walls and the manuscripts. To think, letters from the reign of George III with magnificent marginalia! He is perusing just such a document when the butler, Briggs, informs him of the Viscount's wishes. Dr. Bottwink had assumed that this holiday season would be more circumspect at Warbeck Hall given the circumstances, but these are a dying man's wishes, so guests are coming! Just a few members of his lordship's family. There's Sir Julius Warbeck, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Warbeck's first cousin, and his securty detail, James Rogers, Lady Camilla Prendergast, a niece of her late ladyship's first husband, Mrs. Carstairs, whose father was the rector of the parish and was practically raised in Warbeck Hall, and the son and heir, Robert Warbeck, whose arrival leads Dr. Bottwink to ask a favor of Briggs. Because Briggs has informed Dr. Bottwink that he has been placed for the duration with the family party, which Dr. Bottwink is loath to have happen. He wishes to eat with Briggs and his daughter Susan rather than the son of his host because Robert is the leader of a Fascist organization, The League of Liberty and Justice. Though Robert's antisemitic views are also abhorred by Sir Julius and Mrs. Carstairs, Dr. Bottwink knows that this is not a man he could take a meal with. Though Lady Camilla has a soft spot for Robert. Even if lately he has been cold to her. With so many tensions right from the start it's a wonder they make it through tea and dinner, but it is Lord Warbeck's dying wish, so they all try to get along. They bury their hatred and carry on. As the bells ring out Christmas Day Robert proposes a a toast hinting that he has a secret to be revealed. A secret that won't pass his lips as he drops down dead. Dr. Bottwink is sure it's potassium cyanide poisoning and suggests the police are called. Which is when they realize they are on their own. They are snowed in and the lines are down. It would be logical for James Rogers to head the investigation as he's a sergeant at the Met. But it's obvious he's in over his head and Dr. Bottwink worries that being Jewish and a foreigner that he will be the scapegoat. Therefore it is up to this historian to catch a killer before he or she strikes again! The marginalia will have to wait.

When reading books from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, any informed reader knows that there are bound to be outmoded ways of thinking that were common back then. Or at least outmoded to those who aren't alt-right. I am of course talking about racism and antisemitism. And these outdated viewpoints aren't relegated to murder mysteries written in the early to mid twentieth century, just look to Mark Twain and the controversy about the bowdlerized edition of Huckleberry Finn which was re-released with the n-word removed. I don't believe in censorship, and I believe it's important to read books as they were written because it's a reflection of the time period and our culture just as much as it is a story. Changing that text, bowdlerizing it, changes it's impact and is done to make people feel better. We have to be willing to feel uncomfortable and try to continually be doing better. Literature is a reflection of us and our times, if you feel uncomfortable, perhaps you should look into why and try to change what you can in the world. This problem though is exacerbated within the Golden Age of Detective Fiction because of the five big name authors, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, and Margery Allingham, while they all have been known to have dated viewpoints, Dorothy L. Sayers is an out and out antisemite. Many people I know revere Dorothy L. Sayers as the pinnacle of writing. But I came to her late, I was thirty-four years old when I first read her, which is far too old to brush any objections under the carpet. When you read something as a kid or during your formative years, you can embrace it without fully understanding it and then it just becomes a part of your DNA, which explains why so many people can turn their backs on J.K. Rowling but still read Harry Potter. All this is to say that while this book is from 1951, firmly in the wider circle of the Golden Age, I was so pleasantly surprised by the lack of cringe. I didn't have to wince as Nazis walked across the pages, because they were, rightfully, the bad guys! I know that having this book come out after World War II contributed to Nazis being evil and there being a sympathetic Jewish lead, but, seriously people, we did not need a world war to know right and wrong. And yes, I am glaring at Dorothy L. Sayers. We need more Dr. Bottwinks and less Robert Warbecks. Which is why I like this book so much. It gets it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An English Murder, Antisemitism, Bowdlerize, Christmas, Cyril Hare, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dr. Wenceslaus Bottwink, Fascists, Formative, Golden Age of Detection, Jewish, Mark Twin, Murder Most Foul, Nazis, Poison

Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 1950
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Businessman Benedict Grame bought Sherbroome House from the impoverished Melvin family as a country retreat despite muttered oaths from the local villagers that one day the Melvins would return. Every Christmas he holds a lavish traditional holiday celebration, a true old-fashioned Christmas, where it's an honor to be chosen to attend. These festivities aren't for the locals or the children of the village who would get the most out of it, but the elite. The select few. Those invited must embrace the holiday spirit, with Grame himself even donning the costume of Father Christmas to decorate the tree with everyone's presents on Christmas Eve. Grame has a childlike glee in his playacting with his guests indulging him. The snowstorm brewing will add the final touch to Grame's Christmas trimmings. Mordecai Tremaine is honored to be one of two new additions to the year's guest list. Tremaine would describe himself as an ex-tobacconist who is now rather a social parasite who met Grame through mutual friends. With the inclement but festive weather forcing all the guests to be housebound Tremaine takes a turn about Sherbroome House to met his fellow inmates. On each introduction there arises in him his love of mystery and romance. Who is this person? What is their heart's desire. For the ward of Grame's oldest friend, Jeremy Rainer, Denys Arden, it is clear her heart's desire is Roger Wynton. As a lover of romance novels, this thrills Termaine's heart. But he sees a problem, Rainer is an odd overprotective man who cancelled his plans to go to the States for the holiday season to stay at Sherbroome House and definitely has plans for Denys that don't involve Roger. Then there's the family, "Uncle" Gerald Beechley who loves an inappropriate joke, and Grame's sister Charlotte who behaves like a sour maid with a dark secret whom Tremaine had seen the day previously in Calnford having tea, which she denies. The party is rounded off with Rosalind Marsh who runs a curio shop and paints, Austin Delamere who is an exhausted statesman, neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Napier, the stunning Lucia Tristam, who is possibly a widow with her eyes set on either Benedict or Jeremy, and Professor Ernest Lorring, the other "new" guest and a scientist. Of course Grame's secretary, Nicholas Blaise, is also present. As Tremaine settles in for a long winter's nap he spies Father Christmas on the terrace below him, at first wondering if it is a dream, a fantasy, but of course it is his host setting out to decorate the Christmas tree. The landscape is a three dimensional Christmas card or a shop window, an illusion. An illusion that brought menace when a cloud passed overhead. Malignity and terror were abroad with an expectant atmosphere. When a scream pierces the night Tremaine realizes this is what he'd been expecting. But the body under the tree not being Grame is unexpected. Was the wrong man killed? And will the killer strike again?

Murder for Christmas is a delicious festive work from the Golden Age of Detection. I read a lot of murder mysteries set during the holiday season and rarely has one stood out for such a strong sense of place and an amazing kicker of a conclusion, which any of those other reviewers who marked this book as DNF were robbed of. Seriously, I don't get people who give up early on books, I understand our time on this planet is limited but a book can surprise you in the very last few pages and totally change your view of what came before. And while I was enjoying my entire time at Sherbroome House, damn. But I'm getting ahead of myself because first I wanted to talk about it's sense of place. I don't know if you're like me but I kind of have stock images of country houses in my head. Unless great detail is gone into then they're all basically set in the same place in my mind. Perhaps this is because I watch so many British murder mysteries and they use the same locations over and over again or perhaps it's because back when I used to play MMORPGs every pub was literally the same, which has spilled over into my reading. Literally every pub is the same from Westeros to Temerant. Or, in an egregious example, how in City of Heroes all quests were in office buildings and each and every office building was the same and it ended up being so repetitive that I quickly stopped playing that game despite the fact that I could fly. But Sherbroome House? Damn. I think I could draw this house with the description that Francis Duncan wrote and despite the whole murder aspect, I want to go to there. I want to be in that library with those shelves stacked with books and that golden glow of the tree with the presents hanging from it. I mean, I could do without the corpse, but I can work around that. There's a uniqueness to this place. It felt so real, not just a simulacrum or composite of other houses. This place is as real as the house I'm sitting in right now and I have to applaud the author for that. So few actually succeed at this task. But really, it's the ending that deserves the standing ovation. So, while this book was originally published in 1950 and reprinted in 2017 I'm still giving a spoiler warning because, well, it's the nice thing to do. And yes, sometimes I am not nice and spoil books I hate on purpose without warning, but this isn't one of them. So the big reveal is that these lavish old-fashioned Christmas house parties are mandatory on the part of the participates because Grame is blackmailing them all. This is enforced glee. And while I know many people have a love/hate relationship with the holidays, I personally am the opposite of a scrooge. I'm all about the tree and the trimmings and the baking and the books. So to me, taking something that is supposed to be full of joy and making people do a pantomime of partying is like so deliciously evil I just can't. Francis Duncan is a genius for this perversion of tradition. Well done sir. Well done.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blackmail, Christmas, City of Heroes, Father Christmas, Francis Duncan, Golden Age of Detection, MMORPGs, Mordecai Tremaine, Murder for Christmas, Murder Most Foul, Romance, Sherbroome House, Stock Imagery

The Mitford Secret by Jessica Fellowes
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: January 17th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Deborah Mitford is now Lady Andrew Cavendish and she is determined to make her first Christmas as a newlywed a success. It doesn't matter that menus will have to be creative due to rationing, or that Andrew won't be there to celebrate, or that their hoped for child was stillborn, because her in-laws have given her free range of Chatsworth. Her first house party must be a success, and this is quite the house. Even if it's a bit of a mess what with it being used as a school now and the rest of the house being practically shut up, she's sure she can make one or two rooms comfortable and brimming with Christmas cheer. She needs a win. Even if it's small and might seem silly to anyone else, this is her chance to shine. From the Cavendish side, Andrew's grandmother, parents, brother, future sister-in-law, aunt, and uncle will all be in attendance. From the Mitford side, less of a showing what with Tom in Burma and Diana in prison, but Deborah's parents, Unity, and Nancy are all coming. As is Louisa Sullivan. Nancy, knowing her family, thinks a buffer would be a good idea and this way Louisa and her darling daughter Maisie get away from the constant bombing of London and get to have an actually restful holiday. Or that's the plan. Because as soon as Lord Redesdale sees Louisa he's convinced that a dead body will show up any minute. And while one would hope that he is wrong, he's not. One night before dinner a strange villager shows up at the door demanding entrance. A Mrs. Hoole. She has a message for Lady Andrew from, well, she can't really say from where, but they come to her. And the message is to "look in the vestibule." This is all a bit much and cook will be furious if dinner gets cold, but between them all they figure out exactly where in this enormous house there is a vestibule and there they find a maid's cap with dried blood. But as the dowager duchess points out, the style of the cap is from at least the last war. Intrigued and late for dinner they decide that Mrs. Hoole will return and perform a seance. The next night she puts on quite the show for them all but saves the best for last. She tells Deborah, Nancy, and Louisa, the truth after everyone else has retired for the night. She used to work at the house with her dear friend Joan Dorries who disappeared in 1916. The household and the police weren't interested in investigating. But Mrs. Hoole, hearing that a private detective was staying up at the house, realized this might be her last chance to find out the truth. Sadly Mrs. Hoole will be found dead the next morning. The local doctor can't say if it is suspicious or not. Louisa is convinced it is, Lord Redesdale is resigned. It's just another Mitford occasion with Louisa and a corpse. Everything is bound to work out in the end with some dramatics in the interim.

This is it! This is the book I've been waiting for. And not just because it's the end of the series, but because it's about my favorite Mitford, Deborah. Also, if you are wondering, my Mitford ranking goes Deborah, Jessica, Nancy, Pamela, Unity, and in the depths of hell, Diana. So, no pressure right? Jessica Fellowes, it's your duty to make Debo shine! And honestly, there literally was no pressure because my expectations for this series are so low, and yet this book failed to reach even this low bar. The thing is, back in 2020 I read the first three books in this series and, well, hate is almost too benign a word for what I felt. Though I was determined that I would finish this series. So I girded my loins and just finished the series this year. And yes, it did take me five years to mentally prepare myself for this task. At first I thought that maybe I had been too harsh on the series because the fourth book, The Mitford Trial, wasn't half bad. But the next two books were right back on form, subpar to say the least. From the beginning this series hasn't actually known what to do with the Mitfords. They're there but they add nothing. Which is why I think I actually enjoyed The Mitford Trial, because the Mitfords were integral to the plot not just ambiance. Here they're back to being wallpaper. Yes, we need Deborah because without her we don't have Chatsworth, but seeing as Jessica Fellowes has written so many books on Downton Abbey you think she'd get the dynamic right of the most classic of tropes, a murder mystery at a country house during Christmas. She doesn't. There's no forward momentum. At one point Louisa says that the house is in the dead days between Christmas and New Year's. Now I've never felt that these were dead days, just days to read and recharge, I now view them as dead days. Days that stretch on interminably by an inept author. Why are we supposed to care about a cold case? Why are we supposed to care about a dead woman who may or may not have been murdered? We were given no stakes, instead we were given an unhinged Louisa. She behaves so rashly and out of character that it made me remember why I hated her in the first place. I mean, she just finds the killer by a process of elimination because she has literally blamed everyone else for the crime. And in some cases called the police on them. I mean, this is her job and she is just shit at it. What's more, this running around like a chicken with it's head cut off endangers her child but she doesn't seem to care. But the real kicker is that Jessica Fellowes had a clever idea, I mean, it was bound to happen sometime. The crime scene is a red herring. This should have been played up not left until the end as an afterthought. Though thankfully, this is the end. Right? Don't even think about giving her a contract for a book about Tom!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chatsworth, Christmas, Deborah Mitford, Downton Abbey, Duchess of Devonshire, Jessica Fellowes, Louisa Cannon, Mitfords, Murder Most Foul, Private Detective, Red Herring, The Mitford Secret, The Mitford Trial

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: November 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Mr. James Boynton Bennett has heard tales of his uncle, the great Sir Henry Merrivale. And on first meeting him he is surprised he meets his expectations exactly. The description was to a T. Bennett has arrived in London to escort a newspaper mogul, Lord Canifest and his daughter Louise Carewe, and stopped in to meet his uncle as he's a renowned sleuth and Bennett has a conundrum on his hands. The actress Marcia Tait is a huge Hollywood star who started her career in a flop in the West End. Tim Emery, her publicist, and Carl Rainger, her director, made her who she is and are aghast that she has broken her contract to once again tread the boards. She's set to star opposite Jervis Willard as a Restoration doxie in The Private Life of Charles the Second by Maurice Bohun, presented by Maurice's brother, John, who is in love with The Tait. Lord Canifest is backing the play and he and Bennett have been invited down to the Bohuns' place near Epsom, the White Priory, for Christmas. But for the last three weeks the situtation has been tense as Emery and Rainger try to get her to return to the studio while the Bohuns and Canifest are rooting for the play. Things took a turn though the day before when someone sent The Tait a poisoned box of chocolates, of which John Bohun suggested they ALL take a piece, because whomever refuses is obviously the culprit. Bohun, Emery, Willard, Rainer, and Bennett all took a piece, Emery collapsed two hours later with strychnine poisoning. And it's this toxic group of fellows who plan to decamp to Epson for the holidays, and Bennett is tagging along, but is curious what his uncle's take on the situation is. Could it escalate? Indeed it will, though they were powerless to stop it. The Bohuns have had the White Priory in their family since the time of Charles the Second when they built a "merry house." The "merry house" is called the Queen's Mirror and is off limits to tourists. The structure looks like an imitation temple on an ornamental sheet of water as it stands in the middle of an artificial lake. It was built in 1664 for Lady Castlemaine, perhaps Charles the Second's most notorious mistress. There's a scene in the play set in the pavilion and The Tait insisted on spending her nights at the White Priory in the Queen's Mirror. It was so like Marcia. And this decision would be her last. Because as Bennett arrives on the scene John Bohun has found Marcia dead. It had snowed overnight and there's only one set of prints that go towards the merry house, those of John's. It is a true mystery. A mystery that Bennett thinks only his uncle can solve.

One of the things I plan most assiduously for the holidays is my reading. I want just the right level of classic to modern murder mysteries. Because that is what the holidays are about, murder. Because you're trapped with your family and there's snow and by all that is holy, someone is going to die. So when Poisoned Pen Press reprinted Carter Dickson's 1934 Christmas mystery, The White Priory Murders, back in 2023 I knew it had to be on my holiday reading list. And then I learned it was the second Sir Henry Merrivale book. Which meant I couldn't just skip to the second volume, oh no, I had to first read The Plague Court Murders. But seeing as I learned this when it was still the Halloween season and the first book involves a séance, I felt like fate was throwing me a win. What was more interesting though is reading these two books back to back I couldn't help but wonder why he basically used the same locked-room contrivance. Now there are a million ways to do locked-room mysteries, I should know, I've read enough of them, but what's odd here is the similarities. In both books we have a freestanding structure, one is a stone hut, the other is a marble pavilion. Then we have the structure surrounded by a substance that would leave an impression if anyone had approached it, one is mud, the other is snow. Then we have the body found inside the structure, oh no! And it's not death, it's murder! How was this impossible crime committed!?! Now Carter Dickson was the king of the locked-room mystery, so while others might think this is sloppy to repeat yourself in such a way, I think it was a major flex. He created two entirely different books with basically the same setup. Like he wanted to give the reader another answer to his first book. Almost as if he was writing a Choose Your Own Adventure. Not satisfied with how Roger Darworth died? Try option two with Marcia Tait! It took balls, and I admire it. As for the Sir Henry Merrivale's detection skills? I have issues. Because Sir Henry has no fucks to give about the victims. He honestly doesn't care about them. They are nothing more than a riddle to be solved. And, if possible, solved without stepping outside his cloistered little bubble. I take umbrage that a person is nothing more than an object to him. The criminal and the howdunit are all that matters to him. The background of the victim? Why should that matter? It's like he doesn't believe the past informs how they died, which is ludicrous. It's not about timelines and who could have done what and when but why this person? Why did they have to die? And the answer isn't to provide Sir Henry with a diversion. But maybe that's me? Maybe I want depth, I want more, I don't want tab A going into slot B. That's too clinical a crime.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Carter Dickson, Charles II, Choose Your Own Adventure, Christmas, Locked Room, Marcia Tait, Murder Most Foul, Restoration, Sir Henry Merrivale, The Plague Court Murders, The White Priory Murders, West End

Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey
Published by: Daw Books
Publication Date: December 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The seventeenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows Amelia Stonehold and Serena Meleva as they navigate property acquisition, marriage proposals, and other ancient horrors in Regency England, but with the help of elemental magic.

The year is 1815, and an American, Miss Amelia Stonehold, has arrived in the Devon town of Axminster, accompanied by her "cousin" Serena Meleva. She's brought with her a list to tick off: find a property, investigate the neighbors, bargain for and purchase the property, staff the property and...possibly...find a husband. But Amelia soon finds herself contending with some decidedly off-list trouble, including the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower, whose eyes are fixed on her fortune. Little does Amelia know that his plans for her wealth extend far beyond refurbishing his own crumbing estate - they include the hidden Roman temple of Glykon, where something very old, very angry, and very dangerous still lurks.

But Roughtower isn't prepared to reckon with the fact that neither Amelia nor Serena are pushovers. And he certainly isn't ready for the revelation that he has an Earth Master and a Fire Mage on his hands - or that one of them is a shapeshifter."

Mercedes Lackey writing Regency Magic!?! How did she know what I wanted for Christmas!?!

The Matter of the Secret Bride by Darcie Wilde
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: December 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jane Austen meets Fleabag in Regency London, as a resourceful young woman with a talent for helping ladies of the ton with their most delicate and pressing predicaments finds herself facing a task of royal proportions. Literally.

King George IV is petitioning Parliament for a divorce from his queen on the grounds of her adultery. But rumor has it that the king secretly married Maria Fitzherbert - long before he married the queen. Now Mrs. Fitzherbert has been robbed - and she's frantically calling on Rosalind for help.

Because what those thieves took is proof that she and King George did really marry. That single piece of paper could destroy Mrs. Fitzherbert and her family - or it could prove the king guilty of bigamy.

Rosalind races to investigate. With her is ex-Bow Street officer, Adam Harkness, with whom Rosalind shares a complex and rapidly intensifying bond. But a case of theft soon turns to murder...

Josiah Poole, a disreputable attorney specializing in helping debtors - and who was seen entering Mrs. Fitzherbert's house - is found brutally murdered. Mrs. Fitzherbert has debts. Could she have staged the theft, and employed Mr. Poole to sell the marriage certificate? Or is the truth even more complicated? Mrs. Fitzherbert's daughters have secrets of their own. And Poole himself had no shortage of enemies.

With suspicious coincidences mounting, and more danger encroaching, Rosalind and Adam must move quickly to unravel a history-making mystery that might just lead them straight to the palace itself..."

Oh, a mystery rooted in very real history! I love it!

The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: December 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The acclaimed author of the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity, and Lefty Award-nominated Devil's Chew Toy delights with the first in a new historical mystery series set in turn-of-the-19th-century Chicago, as America is entering its Progressive Era and Harriet Morrow, a bike-riding, trousers-wearing lesbian, has just begun her new job as the first female detective at the Windy City's Prescott Agency...

Chicago, 1898. Rough-around-the-edges Harriet Morrow has long been drawn to the idea of whizzing around the city on her bicycle as a professional detective, solving crimes for a living without having to take a husband. Just twenty-one with a younger brother to support, she seizes the chance when the prestigious Prescott Agency hires her as its first woman operative. The move sparks controversy - with skeptical male colleagues, a high-strung office secretary, and her boss, Mr. Theodore Prescott, all waiting for her to unravel under the pressure...

Only an hour into the job, Harriet has an assignment: Discover the whereabouts of a missing maid from one of the most extravagant mansions on Prairie Avenue. Owner Pearl Bartlett has a reputation for sending operatives on wild goose chases around her grand estate, but Harriet believes the stunningly beautiful Agnes Wozniak has indeed vanished under mysterious circumstances - possibly a victim of kidnapping, possibly a victim of something worse...

With Mr. Prescott pushing a hard deadline, Harriet's burgeoning career depends on working through a labyrinth of eccentric characters and murky motives in a race to discover who made Agnes disappear. When her search leads to Chicago's Polish community and a new friendship in Agnes's charming older sister, Barbara, clues scattered across the city slowly reveal just how much depends on Harriet's inexperienced investigation for answers...and the deep danger that awaits once she learns the truth."

I miss the bygone times when detective agencies were rather large instead of one of two people.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chicago, Christmas, Darcie Wilde, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mercedes Lackey, Miss Amelia's List, Regency, Regency Magic, Rob Osler, The Case of the Missing Maid, The Matter of the Secret Bride

Celebrating All Creatures Great and Small: For the Love of the Yorkshire Dales by All Creatures Great and Small
Published by: Michael O'Mara Books
Publication Date: December 17th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The official visual celebration of All Creatures Great and Small and its incredible setting: the Yorkshire Dales.

Featuring over 200 spectacular shots from all four series, plus an in-depth look at the characters and real-life inspiration for the show, this book tells the fascinating story of the program's main character: the Yorkshire Dales.

The official All Creatures Great and Small companion offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the award-winning show, with beautiful photography throughout."

I mean, we're days away from Christmas and this is the perfect gift for those who love a cozy heartwarming tale every Sunday night... Also I'm personally hoping for lots of pictures of Samuel West in those delicious brown boots Siegfried occasionally wears...

Invisible Helix by Keigo Higashino
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: December 17th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Detective Galileo, Keigo Higashino's best loved character from The Devotion of Suspect X, returns in a case where hidden history, and an impossible crime, are linked by nearly invisible threads in surprising ways.

The body of a young man is found floating in Tokyo Bay. But his death was no accident - Ryota Uetsuji was shot. He'd been reported missing the week before by his live-in girlfriend Sonoka Shimauchi, but when detectives from the Homicide Squad go to interview her, she is nowhere to be found. She's taken time off from work, clothes and effects are missing from the apartment she shared. And when the detectives learn that she was the victim of domestic abuse, they presume that she was the killer. But her alibi is airtight - she was hours away in Kyoto when Ryota disappeared, forcing Detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi to restart their investigation.

But if Sonoko didn't kill her abusive lover, then who did? A thin thread of association leads them to their old consultant, brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, known in the department as "Detective Galileo." With Sonoko still missing, the detectives investigate other threads of association - an eccentric artist, who was Sonoko's mother figure after her own single mother passed; and an older woman who is the owner of a hostess club. And how is Sonoko continuing to stay one step ahead of the police searching for her? It's up to Galileo to find the nearly hidden threads of history and coincidence that connect the people around the bloody murder- which, surprisingly, connect to his own traumatic past - to unravel not merely the facts of the crime but the helix that ties them all together."

And if the person you're buying a Christmas present for isn't into the cozier side of life, how about some murder? It's not the holidays without murder, in my mind...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: All Creatures Great and Small, Christmas, Invisible Helix, James Herriot, Japan, Keigo Higashino, Masterpiece Theatre, Murder, Samuel West, Siegfried Farnon, The Devotion of Suspect X, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales

A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson
Published by: Mobius
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"First comes love... and then comes murder.

A high society Christmas Eve wedding at a secluded Scottish castle sounds like the perfect winter getaway for the three Dahlias - until a dead body wearing a wedding dress and a stolen diamond necklace turns up in the snow outside the family chapel, and the bride and groom are suddenly the prime suspects in a murder case..."

Oh boy! A new Three Dahlias book AND a Christmas murder mystery. Is it my birthday or something?

We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New mother Lady Georgiana "Georgie" Rannoch finds herself trying to separate fact from fiction when a murder occurs while a film is being made on the grounds of her estate in a new Royal Spyness Mystery from beloved bestselling author Rhys Bowen.

It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do.

But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn't be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all."

Oh, the delicious irony of Wallis Simpson AND Anne Boleyn! BTW if you need to know I'm pro Anne anti Wallis.

A Deadly Legacy by E.V. Hunter
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 282 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A tragic accident or an untimely death?

When Drew Hopgood's brother, Frank dies whilst out climbing, it's initially thought his death was simply a tragic accident. But when Frank's much younger wife, Stella arrives at Hopgood Hall demanding half of Frank's inheritance the Hopgoods and Alexi Ellis begin to suspect foul play...

Stella has no claim to Frank's legacy, but she isn't giving up easily. And with the reputation of Hopgood Hall still fragile, Alexi can't afford to lose any more money because of Stella's greed.

So Alexi, her partner Jack, and Cosmo of course, decide to dig deeper into Stella's background. Just how did she meet Frank and were they really as in love as she claims?

As the trio investigate, they discover Stella has her own reasons for being back at Hopgood Hall. And rather than console the grieving widow, Alexi and Jack think they might need to look again at Frank’s tragic death - because rather than an accident this could have been a deadly fall - planned by his own wife!

A boutique hotel. A feral cat. A recipe for murder!

A gripping murder mystery, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Frances Evesham and Emma Davies."

The feral cat totally knows everything and is keeping it from them.

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"'Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, bestselling authors of Last Christmas in Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, and Three Words for Goodbye.

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father's Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change.

As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends - Jack Devereux and Olive Carter - are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn't go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously.

Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition.

As Jack and Olive's paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything.

Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen's first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver..."

Chance encounters can often lead to change during the most magical time of the year.

Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan
Published by: Forever
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When her student goes missing, an independent bluestocking must seek the help of the arrogant duke who spurned her in this sizzling tale of romance and intrigue, perfect for fans of Netflix's Bridgerton series.

Phoebe Atkinson is what society might call unconventional. Instead of marrying well like other women born to wealth, she chose to be a schoolteacher. Not to mention she lives in a leaky flat in an unfashionable part of town rather than stay in her parents' mansion. But when her most promising pupil goes missing she has only one option: beg her sister's best friend, the powerful Duke of Ellis, for help.

The last thing William Margrave ever expected was to inherit a dukedom. But now that he has it, he's determined to act the part perfectly - and that includes marrying the perfect duchess. A bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher is decidedly not duchess material. But he can't resist her plea for help regarding her missing student.

As they fall further into the mystery, William discovers that he never got over his childhood crush on Phoebe..."

I think a bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher would be the better duchess by far. She'd be so well organized!

The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A silver-haired equestrienne and a charismatic artist turn a scandalous bargain into a vibrant portrait of love.

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist - and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother's pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic...like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who's ever really seen her.

Aspiring painter Edward "Teddy" Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist's model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He'll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience. After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella's luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture...."

Aw, I love this, it sounds like a plotline for a seventies British miniseries. Must read!

The Estate by Sarah Jost
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""The world of art is blown wide open" (Jonathan Santlofer, national bestselling author of The Lost Van Gogh) in this novel for fans of The Cartographers, a simmering speculative suspense following art historian Camille Leray, whose secret ability lands her in the middle of the dangerous schemes of the most powerful players in the industry...

Art historian Camille Leray has spent her career surrounding herself with fineries and selling pieces worth millions. But she harbors a secret: she has the ability to enter the world of any piece of artwork, and she can take others with her. But tapping into history comes with great risks. And someone has been watching, someone who knows about her magic, and her mistakes...

After Camille ruins her career and reputation by misusing her powers, she vows to get her old life back. So when Maxime Foucault, an enigmatic aristocrat who owns a sprawling French estate, enlists her help in authenticating the statues of a mysterious artist, whose disappearance she has been trying to solve for years, she knows this could be her chance to turn her career around and get the man she's always wanted.

But something isn't right about the Foucault family and the grand chateau they inhabit, and as Camille gets sucked into its walls, she finds a world of luxury and greed that causes her to risk losing herself, and everything she has ever known, forever.

Filled with magic, suspense, the allure of Arthurian legend, and dark academia, The Estate unravels a mystery that spans generations. This captivating tale will leave readers pondering the fine lines between reality and imagination, creation and destruction, and being haunted or free."

A book that is hard to quantify and yet I just want to move into its pages.

The Memory Place by Nate Dimeo
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Incredible true stories reveal strange new magic in American history in this wondrous first book from the creator of the award-winning podcast The Memory Palace.

The Memory Palace is a collection of crystalline historical tales that read like luminous short fiction and, like Nate DiMeo's acclaimed podcast of the same name, conjure lost moments and forgotten figures who are calling out across time to be remembered.

Space capsules filled with fruit flies and future senators. A socialite scientist who gives up her glamorous life to follow love and the elusive prairie chicken. A boy genius on a path to change the world who gets lost in the theoretical possibilities of streetcar transfers. An enslaved man who steals a boat and charts a course that leads him to freedom, war, and Congress. A farmer's wife who puts down her butter churn, picks up the butter, and becomes an international art star. An amusement park glowing at the water's edge when electric lights are a brand-new thing. This cabinet of curiosities teems with wonder.

For fifteen years, Nate DiMeo has turned to the past to make sense of the way we live today, finding beauty and meaning in history's dustier corners, holding things up to the light and weaving facts, keen insight, wit, and poignant observation into unforgettable tales. With new stories and treasured favorites from the beloved podcast assembled alongside dynamic illustrations and archival photographs for the first time, enchantment awaits you."

Because everything needs to be remembered. And it's often the stories we overlook that might be the most fascinating. 

The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade
Published by: Faber and Faber
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Richard Ayoade's fictional quest to rescue Harauld Hughes - the almost mythical mid-century playwright - from obscurity.

The gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade, first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop. At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author's photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes's writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published.

Ayoade embarked on a documentary, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, to understand the unfathomable collapse of Hughes's final film O Bedlam! O Bedlam!, taking us deep inside the most furious British writer since the Boer War. This is the story of the story of that quest."

What they don't mention here is that Richard Ayoade got SO DEEP into the character of Harauld Hughes he wrote all of Harauld's books. 

The World According to Cunk by Philomena Cunk
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Romans! Madrigals! The Dark Ages! Revolutions! Trumpets! The Oranges of The First World War! All of this (except trumpets) and more, is covered in this definitive, easy-clean history of all world history so far, written by the 21st Century's leading historian, philosopher and thinkerer Philomena Cunk.

Focussing on the inventions, art, and brainboxes that made the modern world the unbearable place it is today, The World According To Cunk is the history book to end all history books: more unputdownable than Andrew Marr's History Of The World, less unpickupable than Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, and noticeably less in ancient Greek than Herodotus' Histories.

Philomena Cunk says: "About the world, written on the world, and available at all the world's remaining bookshops, The World According To Cunk is the definitive history of the world. There will never need be another history book. Unless something major happens. Even then they'll probably just put something up on TikTok about it. A word of warning: please don't buy it if you're expecting anything about trumpets in it. You will only be disappointed.""

Dammit, I wanted trumpets. But only in the ancient Greek.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bridgerton, Christmas, E.V. Hunter, Emily Sullivan, Harauld Hughes, Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb, History, Katy Watson, Mimi Matthews, Nate Dimeo, Philomena Cunk, Podcast, Rhys Bowen, Richard Ayoade, Sarah Jost

Four Gathered on Christmas Eve by Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Becky Cloonan, and James Harren
Published by: Dark Horse Books
Publication Date: December 19th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 72 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Four of the top creators in comics gather to continue the Victorian tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve.

Four tales of the bizarre and terrifying to keep you company on the cold yule night. A unique approach to the ghost story format where the creators themselves become part of the story in this deluxe edition hard cover designed by the award-winning Phil Balsman."

Needing that last minute gift for the comic lover in your life? Well, Dark Horse is riding in to the rescue!

Deadly Game by Michael Caine
Published by: Mobius
Publication Date: December 19th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"DCI Harry Taylor has no respect for red tape or political reputations - but he's great at catching criminals.

And all his unorthodox skills will be needed as an extraordinary situation unfolds on his doorstep: a metal box of radioactive material is found at a dump in Stepney, East London, but before the police can arrive it is stolen in a violent raid.

With security agencies across the world on red alert, it's Harry and his unconventional team from the Met who must hit the streets in search of a lead. They soon have two wildly different suspects, aristocratic art dealer Julian Smythe in London and oligarch Vladimir Voldrev in Barbados. But the pressure is on. How much time does Harry have, and how many more players will join the action, before the missing uranium is lighting up the sky? Deadly Game is a compelling, fast-paced novel of international intrigue and twisting suspense from a legendary actor and British icon, who now proves himself to be a first-rate thriller writer."

I mean, there's no way Michael Caine actually wrote this right? Unless this was his big move after quitting acting... Either way, it's what everyone's dad is getting for Christmas this year.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Becky Cloonan, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Deadly Game, Eric Powell, Four Gathered on Christmas Eve, Ghost Stories, Ghostwriting, James Harren, Michael Caine, Mike Mignola, Tuesday Tomorrow

The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: September 16th, 2014
Format: Kindle, 448 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than on reviewed)

Lockwood and Co. are on a case. Only it's not going so well. Anthony, George, and Lucy are in serious peril when Fittes agents swarm in. I mean, they would have gotten it under control eventually.... But having Quill Kipps and his team come to the "rescue" is just degrading. And George did not like that slight against his research skills one bit. In a fit of pique Lockwood challenges Quill to a contest. The next time they are up for the same job whomever solves it first sees the loser place an ad in the paper declaring their inferiority. In other words, abject humiliation for the whole world to see. This opportunity comes sooner than expected. Paul Saunders is the "Municipal Excavator" of Sweet Dreams Excavation and Clearance. They are currently working in Kensal Green Cemetery where they have come upon an oddity, Edmund Bickerstaff, the notorious Victorian doctor's grave has been found. The fact that Edmund Bickerstaff was supposedly consumed by rats and never buried means a grave is indeed odd. This needs to be made safe ASAP and therefore Lockwood and Co. have been approached. After some problems at the site they secure it only to be informed that after they left the coffin was raided and now the Department of Psychical Research and Control (DEPRAC) is ordering Lockwood and Co. to clean up the mess with the help of Quill Kipps and his team. They didn't create the mess! And to have to work with Kipps!?! At least their contest can be settled. But the two teams trying to constantly one up each other is causing more harm than good. They aren't thinking straight or smart. They are endangering themselves and others. But at least Lockwood and Co. have one up on Kipps; Lucy. Lucy might be the first person ever since the legendary Marissa Fittes to be able to communicate with Type Three ghosts. And the ghost that is communicating with her is the creepy skull that George has been keeping around in a jar and experimenting on that he stole when he left the Fittes Agency. What's odd though is the skull claims to have known Edmund Bickerstaff. If this is indeed true will the skull help them or will it decide to lead them into danger?

The Whispering Skull was almost a non-starter for me. I dived into it immediately after finishing The Screaming Staircase and just wasn't feeling it. The first book took awhile to get going but I loved where it ended and while I finally had a firm grasp on the world of Lockwood and his cohorts when I started this second volume I just couldn't. The reason for this was twofold. The first was that I decided to pick this up as a quick read at the beginning of December before starting my holiday reading, and the sultry summer weather and lack of the Gothic goodness that The Screaming Staircase came to embrace wasn't there. So I was champing at the bit to read about some seasonally appropriate murders. And as for why I have now used two horse related metaphors in this review so far I honestly have no clue. Blame the skull? He is rather annoying so it could conceivably be his fault.... Needless to say, after I finished my holiday reading I returned to The Whispering Skull and re-encountered the second reason I had trouble getting into this book, the rivalries. So, all the agencies dealing with paranormal phenomena are rivals. Some, like that between the Fittes Agency and the Rotwell Agency, are not contentious. But Lockwood being Lockwood, this means that Lockwood and Co.'s interactions are always contentious. In particular with Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents. They are like oil and water, if they were somehow combustible. They are clashing continuously and at every chance they get, so much so that they endanger each other again and again. This just isn't my thing. I don't like confrontation in this petty bureaucratic way. It just gets under my skin. And seeing as this rivalry takes up more of the book than the actual mystery, which is pretty darn interesting when you're not trying to figure it out over conflicting agencies, this book just didn't do it for me. I just hope that the next volume remembers where it's strength lies, the creepy atmosphere, and not where it doesn't, in petty bureaucracy. I have a feeling though that we're going to get more bureaucracy because there's some big secret the agencies are hiding and I wouldn't be surprised if that's this series' big arc.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anthony Lockwood, Christmas, Edmund Bickerstaff, George Cubbins, Gothic, Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co., London Calling, Lucy Carlyle, Paranormal, Quill Kipps, The Screaming Staircase, The Whispering Skull

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: June 21st, 2012
Format: Paperback, 375 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It's the week before Christmas and PC Peter Grant is working with the big boys, he's been assigned to the murder squad. It's almost a thrill to be working with other coppers again. Being assigned to the Folly means his coworkers are his boss and hopefully soon his old partner Lesley. But not today, today Christmas has come early. He was called in to the Baker Street Underground station to see if he could pick up anything uncanny about their newest corpse. The corpse though was surprisingly clean. No magic. The broken piece of pottery shard that ended the life of James Gallagher is anything but. And now Peter's looking into the murder of an American art student who just happens to be the son of a U.S. Senator. The victim, James Gallagher, was not untalented, he had an eye for street scenes and capturing life. It was almost old fashioned in it's precision. But his art had started to change of late, becoming darker. One of his teachers worried that he might be suicidal. Peter assures him that James Gallagher's death was indeed murder. At his studio Peter learns that his victim was interested in Ryan Carroll, an artist who road the Celtic Tiger all the way to the Tate Modern. Ryan Carroll's artwork, an assemblage of mannequins and found pieces, exude magic. Much like the murder weapon. And much like a bowl found at James Gallagher's apartment. Because magic is the reason that Peter was allowed on the murder squad it's his job to look into the pottery. For that he'll need the help of James Gallagher's roommate, Zach. Zach had obviously been living rough prior to moving in to "help" James discover the real London. Zach though is only passingly familiar with telling the truth. He is definitely more than he looks and when he discovers that Peter is in league with the Nightingale, he's almost more obstreperous. Which Peter doesn't have time for. He has an FBI agent breathing down his neck, an unexpected snowstorm, a trek through the sewers, and who knows what other hell before Christmas comes and all the while there's the looming threat of their "Little Crocodiles," black magicians illegally trained at Oxford that are trying to make his and Nightingale's life a living hell. Couldn't Zach give him the smallest of breaks? And not another broken bowl thank you very much.

What's interesting about the Rivers of London series is that Ben Aaronovitch has created a series with a strong connection to the arts. The first installment was about the world of the threatre, the second installment was about the world of music, in particular jazz, and this third installment brings us to the art world. Oh my, it's like this series was made with me and the various stages of my life in mind, from the piano lessons I started in first grade to the Bachelor's degrees I got in art and theatre as an undergraduate. But when you think about it while the arts are viewed as something rarefied, especially to those with pretensions who I was occasionally taught by, we all have a connection to them, be it a school play we were in, a song we've loved, or something we've drawn. Through our development from child to adult even if it's only tangentially, we've experienced the arts. So while some might think these themes lofty, I think of them as the basic human condition, these are what separate us from the animals, the ability to create and enjoy wonder. But going back to my time as an undergraduate, the student studios that Peter tours are priceless. I mean, it was so spot on I could barely contain my glee. The pretentious concept pieces to James's very traditional art, I've seen it all and Ben Aaronovitch brought it all back to me. Oh and I can't leave out Ryan Carroll, a man in it for the money, who views that his art should speak for itself. Do not get me started on people who think art should speak for itself. Nothing is beyond verbalization. Your "act of creation" or whatever you want your process to be about in the forming of clay or what have you should be able to speak for itself BUT you should be able to talk about the what and the whys of it. An artist who can not explain their art isn't a true artist, they are a poseur. Which is very interesting as to how the pottery angle works in. I don't know if other people experienced the mystique of pottery as I did. Two hippies ran my pottery classes and it was a weird clique. They "knew things others did not." Therefore to have this mystery of the pottery just made me nod my head sagely and go, "yes, pottery is the greatest mystery." And it's a mystery that Peter is able to solve to the delight of artists and urban explorers everywhere.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Baker Street, Ben Aaronovitch, Christmas, Little Crocodiles, London Calling, London Underground, Murder Squad, Music, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Pottery, Theatre, Urban Explorers, Whispers Under Ground

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Published by: Dover Publications
Publication Date: 1952
Format: Kindle, 260 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Therese Belivet moved to New York in the hopes of being a set designer. But waiting and hoping and making models doesn't pay the bills so she is working at Frankenberg's department store during the holiday season. She's in the toy section selling dolls and is oppressed by the noise of the toy train by the elevators, the din of the customers, and the general chaos that working in retail entails. Her life is a grind, a depressing mix of cafeteria meals and hoping her boyfriend Richard comes through with a job opportunity for her in the theater after Christmas. All this changes when she sees Carol. Carol Aird comes into Frankenberg's to buy a doll for her daughter. The doll is to be sent to Carol's home in New Jersey and the address is emblazoned on Therese's heart. She doesn't know what possesses her but after Carol leaves she rushes to send her a card. Carol calls the store, intrigued by being sent a card from an employee of Frankenberg's. She wonders if this is common practice but learns that it, and the girl who sent it, are not in the least common. Carol is going through a divorce and is separated from her daughter Rindy for the holiday season so she takes in Therese like a stray. They drive around together, sit for hours doing nothing, listening to music, having dinners out, even getting a Christmas tree for which Therese makes all the decorations. They are fast friends. As Therese muses, "It would be almost like love, what she felt for Carol, except that Carol was a woman." But women can love. And that's one of the reasons that Carol is being kept away from Rindy. The divorce isn't going well because of something that happened in her past with her friend Abby. But what Therese feels, Abby could never have felt. As Carol and Therese take to the open road the future is wide open but their past is closing in.

The Price of Salt is a classic of lesbian fiction and it's easy to see why; two women fall in love and are given a chance at a happily ever after. This was something unheard of in literature of the time as it defied all tropes of the genre. Which makes it an important book even if it's a very flawed book. The problem is that both characters are enigmas. They are ciphers. Neither really shows themself to the other fully. We have full insight into Therese's fractured and half finished thoughts as the story is from her point of view but Carol is a conundrum. Yes, I know that they are two people dancing around a taboo subject and it isn't until their trip that they take the risk to finally put their feelings into words and actions, but this makes most of the book an almost excruciating read. It isn't just a "will they won't they" situation it's a Waiting for Godot level situation. And if you're not in the mood for that level of interminable fatalism, well, then this book might not be for you. For the most part it wasn't for me until it was. Because buried among all the things not done and said all of a sudden there's this heart of gold. Yes, I'm saying The Price of Salt should have been a road trip novella. Therese and Carol finally being a couple, just touring the country, oddly skipping Wisconsin on the way from Rockford to Minneapolis, I mean, who seriously goes via Iowa, is a delight. They take pictures and do things normal couples do, they talk, they love, and we learn more about them in these few chapters than in the whole rest of the book. Plus Highsmith, with her accomplished crime fiction background, has this delicious foreboding building. Could they be being followed? Has Carol's husband given her enough rope to hang herself? All the while there's that gun in Carol's suitcase and you can't help but wonder, will it be used? Could Highsmith be going for a dark ending for our lovers? Because literature of the day demands it. When she taps the breaks, that's when you realize what a genius she is. Just not a genius at editing.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Carol, Carol Aird, Christmas, Crime Fiction, Divorce, Frankenberg's, HEA, Lesbian, LGBTQIA+, Love, Novella, Patricia Highsmith, Pride, Set Design, The Price of Salt, Theater, Therese Belivet, Tropes, Waiting for Godot

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

It's spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they've arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir's memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother's murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there's more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache's home."

Because we can never get enough Armand Gamache and Tree Pines! Especially with the television show premiering this week!

Five Survive by Holly Jackson
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the New York Times and multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series comes a new addictive thriller about a road trip that turns deadly. Eight hours. Six friends. Five survive.

Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Her best friend - the older brother - his perfect girlfriend - a secret crush - a classmate - and a killer.

When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize this is no accident. They have been trapped by someone out there in the dark, someone who clearly wants one of them dead.

With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape, or figure out which of them is the target. But is there a liar among them? Buried secrets will be forced to light and tensions inside the RV will reach deadly levels. Not all of them will survive the night...."

THE book I have been hearing the most buzz about this fall!

The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The acclaimed author of the "sublime" (The New York Times) Far North, a finalist for the National Book Award, returns with a mesmerizing novel about a North Korean boy whose life is irrevocably changed when he stumbles across a mysterious Western book - a guide to Dungeons and Dragons.

Ten-year-old Jun-su is a bright and obedient boy whose only desire is to be a credit to his family, his nation, and most importantly, his Dear Leader. However, when he discovers a copy of The Dungeon Master's Guide, left behind in a hotel room by a rare foreign visitor, a new and colorful world opens up to him.

With the help of an English-speaking teacher, Jun-su deciphers the rules of the famous role-playing game and his imaginary adventures sweep him away from the harsh reality of a famine-stricken North Korea. Over time, the game leads Jun-su on a spellbinding and unexpected journey through the hidden layers of his country, toward precocious success, glory, love, betrayal, prison, a spell at the pinnacle of the North Korean elite, and an extraordinary kind of redemption.

A vivid, uplifting, and deeply researched novel, The Sorcerer of Pyongyang is a love story and a tale of survival against the odds. Inspired by the testimony of North Korean refugees and drawing on the author's personal experience of North Korea, it explores the power of empathy and imagination in a society where they are dangerous liabilities."

If your life hasn't been changed by Dungeons and Dragons now's your chance.

Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Kindle, 340 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Irish whiskey, rolling green hills, a traditional Christmas feast and...a murder? Lady Swift will need the luck of the Irish to survive this holiday season!

Christmas, 1923. Lady Eleanor Swift has received a rather unexpected invitation to the village Christmas party in the tiny, rural hamlet of Derrydee in the west of Ireland. Eleanor is thrilled about exploring her ancestral roots at her late uncle’s estate and spending the festive season in a castle. Packing Gladstone the bulldog's coziest Christmas jumper, they set off to the Emerald Isle with her butler Clifford in tow.

Arriving late at night, Eleanor and Clifford are shocked when they find a body sprawled in the snow on the winding country lane outside the estate. The local constable is immediately suspicious and all but accuses the pair of murder. This isn’t the warm Irish welcome Eleanor imagined!

Clifford is certain he recognises the poor fellow from the funeral of Eleanor's uncle - but what was their connection? Undeterred by the villagers' lack of gossip on the matter, Eleanor is determined to get justice for the victim. The man's pockets are suspiciously empty of personal effects, but closer inspection reveals an old key hidden in the heel of his boot. Could this unlock more than one mystery for Eleanor?

But when a fire breaks out at the castle on Christmas Eve, an even bigger question looms: is someone out to ensure the family line dies with Lady Swift? And will Eleanor's first Irish Christmas be her last?

An utterly addictive festive whodunnit set in Ireland, brimming with mystery, intrigue and wit. Sure to delight fans of T.E. Kinsey, Agatha Christie and Rhys Bowen."

Another book for my holiday reading this year. Murder and Christmas just go together better than anything else.

Hotel Splendide by Ludwig Bemelmans
Published by: Pushkin Press
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Acerbic, colorful, and spirited stories from a bygone era: behind the scenes in a grand NY hotel, from the author of the Madeline books.

Picture David Sedaris writing Kitchen Confidential about the Ritz in New York in the 1920s, which had the style and charm of The Grand Budapest Hotel...

In this charming and uproariously funny hotel memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide - the thinly disguised stand-in for the Ritz - a luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter in the 1920s. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he uncovers the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls.

In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian maître d'hôtel Monsieur Victor to the kindly waiter Mespoulets to Frizl the homesick busboy. Illustrated with his own charming line drawings, Bemelmans' tales of a bygone era of extravagance are as charming as they are riotously entertaining."

If you only know Bemelmans from Madeline let me enlighten you...

The Gentleman's Book of Vices by Jess Everlee
Published by: Carina Adores
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Is their real-life love story doomed to be a tragedy, or can they rewrite the ending?

London, 1883

Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can't love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding.

Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last hurrah: meeting his favorite author in person.

Miles Montague is more gifted as a smut writer than a shopkeep and uses his royalties to keep his flagging bookstore afloat. So when a cheerful dandy appears out of the mist with Miles's highly secret pen name on his pretty lips, Miles assumes the worst. But Charlie Price is no blackmailer; he's Miles's biggest fan.

A scribbled signature on a worn book page sets off an affair as scorching as anything Miles has ever written. But Miles is clinging to a troubled past, while Charlie's future has spun entirely out of his control..."

Rewrite the ending for a HEA!

The Reluctant Countess by Eloisa James
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: November 29th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Would-Be Wallflowers series with an enemies-to-lovers romance between a proper earl and an entirely improper lady - whom he can't stop thinking about.

Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford, has never made a fool of himself over a woman - until he meets Lady Yasmin Régnier. Yasmin is ineligible for his attentions in every way: not as a wife, certainly not as a mistress (she is a lady!), nor even as a friend, since they vehemently dislike each other. Her gowns are too low, and her skirts are dampened to cling to admittedly lovely thighs. She loves to gossip - and giggle.

She isn't dignified, or polite, or even truly British, given that her father's French ancestry clearly predominated. Not to mention the fact that her mother had been one of Napoleon's mistresses, a fact she makes no effort to hide.

So what - in heaven's name - possesses him to propose?

And what will he do if she says yes?"

Oh, I do love Eloisa James's improper heroines!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Armand Gamache, Christmas, Dungeons and Dragons, Eloisa James, Holly Jackson, Jess Everlee, Louise Penny, Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline, Marcel Theroux, Tree Pines, Verity Bright, Would-Be Wallflowers