strange and random happenstance

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. "A church is a wonderful place for a wedding," muses Flavia, "surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar." Flavia is not your normal twelve-year-old girl. An expert in the chemical nature of poisons, she has solved many mysteries, sharpening her considerable detection skills to the point where she had little choice but to turn professional. So Flavia and dependable Dogger, estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to serve - not so simple an endeavor with her odious little moon-faced cousin, Undine, constantly underfoot. But Flavia and Dogger persevere. Little does she know that their first case will be extremely close to home, beginning with an unwelcome discovery in Ophelia’s wedding cake: a human finger."

The highlight of a new year for me is a new Flavia de Luce book!

Miraculum by Steph Post
Published by: Polis Books
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The year is 1922. The carnival is Pontilliar’s Spectacular Star Light Miraculum, staked out on the Texas-Louisiana border. One blazing summer night, a mysterious stranger steps onto the midway, lights a cigarette and forever changes the world around him. Tattooed snake charmer Ruby has traveled with her father’s carnival for most of her life and, jaded though she is, can’t help but be drawn to the tall man in the immaculate black suit who conveniently joins the carnival as a chicken-biting geek. Mercurial and charismatic, Daniel charms everyone he encounters, but his manipulation of Ruby turns complicated when it’s no longer clear who’s holding all the cards. Daniel is full of secrets, but he hadn’t counted on Ruby having a few of her own.

When one tragedy after another strikes the carnival - and it becomes clear that Daniel is somehow at the center of calamity - Ruby takes it upon herself to discover the mystery of the shadowy man pulling all the strings. Joined by Hayden, a roughneck-turned-mural-painter wrestling demons of his own, Ruby engages Daniel in a dangerous, eye-opening game in which nothing is as it seems and everything is at stake.

Steph Post has firmly estblished herself as one of the most original and captivating voices in contemporary fiction, and with Miraculum she has written an unforgettable novel that is part Southern Gothic, part Noir, part Magical Realism, and all Steph Post."

Ever since The Night Circus I have been drawn to books about carnivals, add in a dash of Magical Realism and a dollop of the Gothic and you've hooked me!

The Witches of St. Petersburg by Imogen Edwards-Jones
Published by: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by real characters, this transporting historical fiction debut spins the fascinating story of two princesses in the Romanov court who practiced black magic, befriended the Tsarina, and invited Rasputin into their lives - forever changing the course of Russian history.

As daughters of the impoverished King of Montenegro, Militza and Stana must fulfill their duty to their father and leave their beloved home for St. Petersburg to be married into senior positions in the Romanov court. For their new alliances to the Russian nobility will help secure the future of the sisters’ native country. Immediately, Militza and Stana feel like outcasts as the aristocracy shuns them for their provincial ways and for dabbling in the occult. Undeterred, the sisters become resolved to make their mark by falling in with the lonely, depressed Tsarina Alexandra, who - as an Anglo-German - is also an outsider and is not fully accepted by members of the court. After numerous failed attempts to precipitate the birth of a son and heir, the Tsarina is desperate and decides to place her faith in the sisters’ expertise with black magic.

Promising the Tsarina that they will be able to secure an heir for the Russian dynasty, Militza and Stana hold séances and experiment with rituals and spells. Gurus, clairvoyants, holy fools, and charlatans all try their luck. The closer they become to the Tsarina and the royal family, the more their status - and power - is elevated. But when the sisters invoke a spiritual shaman, who goes by the name of Rasputin, the die is cast. For they have not only irrevocably sealed their own fates—but also that of Russia itself.

Brimming with black magic, sex and intrigue, The Witches of St. Petersburg is an exquisite historical fiction debut novel filled with lush historical details from the Romanov era."

I've been really drawn to Russia lately, add in a little magic, and it's like someone is reading my wish list of books to read!

Happiness by Aminatta Forna
Published by: Grove Press
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"London. A fox makes its way across Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to collide - Jean, an American studying the habits of urban foxes, and Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist there to deliver a keynote speech. From this chance encounter, Aminatta Forna’s unerring powers of observation show how in the midst of the rush of a great city lie numerous moments of connection.

Attila has arrived in London with two tasks: to deliver a keynote speech on trauma, as he has done many times before; and to contact the daughter of friends, his “niece” who hasn’t called home in a while. Ama has been swept up in an immigration crackdown, and now her young son Tano is missing.

When, by chance, Attila runs into Jean again, she mobilizes the network of rubbish men she uses as volunteer fox spotters. Security guards, hotel doormen, traffic wardens - mainly West African immigrants who work the myriad streets of London - come together to help. As the search for Tano continues, a deepening friendship between Attila and Jean unfolds.

Meanwhile a consulting case causes Attila to question the impact of his own ideas on trauma, the values of the society he finds himself in, and a grief of his own. In this delicate tale of love and loss, of cruelty and kindness, Forna asks us to consider the interconnectedness of lives, our co-existence with one another and all living creatures, and the true nature of happiness."

A fox causes a confluence of events in London? Yes!

Escape from the Palace by Santa Montefiore and Simon Sebag Montefiore
Published by: Aladdin
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mission Impossible and James Bond have nothing on this wily bunch of rabbits who are pledged to protect the Queen of England - and the President of the United States - from a dastardly plot in this charming second novel of the Royal Rabbits of London series.

Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible - by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage!

Little Shylo Tawny-Tail is proud to call himself one of the Royal Rabbits of London, a secret order who live under Buckingham Palace and fight evil across the world. But high up in London’s famous skyscraper, the Shard, the horrible ratzis are plotting to cause chaos during a visit from the President of the United States. And when the Grand Burrow is attacked and Shylo is kidnapped, it looks as though they might just manage it! Can Shylo escape in time to save the day?"

Really depends on the president doesn't it? But long live the Queen!

Hilda and the Great Parade by Stephen Davies
Published by: Flying Eye Books
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 200 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Book two in the Hilda Netflix TV Tie-in series offers new never-before-read content in this illustrated chapter book, picking up where Hilda and The Hidden People left off.

Meet Hilda - explorer, adventurer, avid sketchbook-keeper, and friend to every creature in the valley! Well, almost every creature. We rejoin our favorite blue-haired heroine to find her warding off the nightmarish Marra, rescuing weather spirits, and searching for the elusive black hound. And she's still got to make it to the Sparrow Scout badge ceremony on time! There is no shortage of unexpected twists, turns and new friends in this latest installment of the Hilda fiction series."

I love that the Netflix series is exposing more and more people to the wonder that is Hilda. Now go back and read Luke Pearson's original books! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Aminatta Forna, Flavia De Luce, Foxen, Happiness, Hilda, Luke Pearson, Miraculum, Royal Rabbits of London, Steph Post, The Golden Tresses of the Dead, The Night Circus, The Witches of St. Petersburg

Bookstore: Murder By The Book

Location: Houston, Texas

Official Patter: "Murder By The Book is one of the nation's oldest and largest mystery specialty bookstores, established in 1980 by Martha Farrington, and purchased by McKenna Jordan in 2009. The store stocks over 25,000 books - new and used, hardbacks and paperbacks, first editions, collectibles, gift items, mystery magazines, and more. We host over 200 of the hottest mystery, crime, and fantasy authors for book signing events every year. We've had everyone from Dick Francis to P.D. James, Sue Grafton to Robert Crais, Michael Connelly to Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke to Daniel Silva."

Why I Love Them: They are literally my favorite bookstore that I've never been to! I first heard about them because I had fallen in love with the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig and I saw this was a bookstore she was stopping at way back in 2008 to promote the fourth book in the series, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose. It wasn't long before I started to notice how many authors I loved stopped by, all those wonderful signed first editions that could be coming my way! From Tasha Alexander to Deanna Raybourn, Melissa Marr to Kate Morton, Mary Robinette Kowal to Jacqueline Winspear, so many authors on the historical fiction/mystery spectrum made Murder By The Book their go to stop on their tours that I long to live closer. And this doesn't even include Charlaine Harris's link to the store and how many signed books they have supplied me with of hers!

Best Buy: But the best thing about Murder By The Book is that through them I have been given some of the best book recommendations. Recommendations that I'm sure I'd never have heard of otherwise! Johnnie Cakes (the moniker many authors know and love John Kwiatowski by) introduced me to The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, a favorite Steampunk series of mine by Pip Ballantine and her husband Tee Morris among many many others. Occasionally he'll just email me and be like, you need this. I always listen. But before Johnnie there was the store's dearly departed owner David Thompson giving me recommendations. Back in 2009 there was a new book coming out, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and he told me it was not just a must read but that it was going to be big. I listened and am the proud owner of a signed first edition of this Alan Bradley book that went on to win every award that year. Though the awards would mean nothing if it wasn't for the fact that I just fell in love with this series. Every year I wait with baited breath for the next installment, currently at nine books, one short story, and book ten on the way. There's something about Flavia De Luce that I just connect with. She's precocious, incorrigible, and whip-smart. She might be one of my favorite crime solving heroines of all time, and easily my favorite who isn't yet a teenager! But to think, I would never have heard of her it not for David! That is why I love reaching out and forming relationships with bookstores online. They have all these books they want to recommend to you and they help to expand your horizons. The Internet truly does make the world smaller, and because of it I've met some great friends, both real and fictional.       

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Flavia De Luce, Lauren Willig, Murder by the Book, Support Your Brick and Mortar, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Grabe's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poisons, is ecstatic. Suddenly something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, imagining herself Ernest Hemingway battling a marlin, and pulls up what she expects will be a giant fish. But in Flavia’s grip is something far better: a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia’s mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder—although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave."

I adore Flavia. I adore how she is always able to find trouble around every corner... she's like the 12 year old Jessica Fletcher. 

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albery
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong."

Cult author dies? YES! 

Poet Anderson... In Darkness by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young
Published by: To the Stars
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Multi-platinum recording artist and Blink-182 founder Tom DeLonge once again teams up with New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young to continue the award-winning, critically-acclaimed transmedia project—Poet Anderson—inspired by a Stanford University study on how your dreams can effect your reality.

In the Waking World, Jonas Anderson works as a doorman for the Eden Hotel, dividing his free time between seeing his girlfriend, Samantha Birnham-Wood, and visiting his comatose brother Alan. In the Dream World, he is Poet Anderson, a Dream Walker, a guardian of the Dreamscape charged with protecting sleeping innocents from the nightmares that threaten both worlds.

But Jonas remains tormented by his own nightmare—his failure to rescue Alan from the Dreamscape and free him from his coma. Together, Jonas and Alan fought side-by-side against the night terror entity known as REM. Even though they defeated the vicious monster, Alan continues to waste away in a hospital bed while Jonas’ guilt eats away at his soul.

REM may have lost a battle, but the war continues. His Night Stalkers roam the Dreamscape, hunting for Jonas and the other poets capable of traversing the waking and dreaming realms. And now, demonic shadow creatures are possessing the spirits of dreamers and using their bodies to enter the Waking World.

Jonas can no longer avoid his destiny. To save reality from the maelstrom of nightmares, Poet Anderson will have to sacrifice the Dreamscape..."

I'm pretty on top of it when it comes to anything book related, so HOW did I not know that Tom DeLonge is now a writer!?! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Blink-182, Flavia De Luce, Jessica Fletcher, Melissa Albert, Poet Anderson, Suzanne Young, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, The Hazel Wood, Tom Delonge, Tuesday Tomorrow

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter: "In spite of being ejected from Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is excited to be sailing home to England. But instead of a joyous homecoming, she is greeted on the docks with unfortunate news: Her father has fallen ill, and a hospital visit will have to wait while he rests. But with Flavia’s blasted sisters and insufferable cousin underfoot, Buckshaw now seems both too empty—and not empty enough. Only too eager to run an errand for the vicar’s wife, Flavia hops on her trusty bicycle, Gladys, to deliver a message to a reclusive wood-carver. Finding the front door ajar, Flavia enters and stumbles upon the poor man’s body hanging upside down on the back of his bedroom door. The only living creature in the house is a feline that shows little interest in the disturbing scene. Curiosity may not kill this cat, but Flavia is energized at the prospect of a new investigation. It’s amazing what the discovery of a corpse can do for one’s spirits. But what awaits Flavia will shake her to the very core."

A new Flavia De Luce book makes EVERYTHING right with the world. 

Pushing Up Daisies by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter: "When Agatha Raisin left behind her PR business in London, she fulfilled her dream of settling in the cozy British Cotswolds where she began a successful private detective agency. Unfortunately, the village she lives in is about to get a little less cozy. Lord Bellington, a wealthy land developer, wants to turn the community garden into a housing estate. When Agatha and her friend Sir Charles Fraith attempt to convince Lord Bellington to abandon his plans he scoffs: “Do you think I give a damn about those pesky villagers?” So when Agatha finds his obituary in the newspaper two weeks later, it’s no surprise that some in town are feeling celebratory.

The villagers are relieved to learn that Bellington’s son and heir, Damian, has no interest in continuing his father’s development plans. But the police are definitely interested in him―as suspect number one. His father’s death, it seems, was no accident. But when Damian hires Agatha to find the real killer, she finds no shortage of suspects. The good news is that a handsome retired detective named Gerald has recently moved to town. Too bad he was seen kissing another newcomer. But when she is also found murdered, Gerald is eager to help Agatha with the case. Agatha, Gerald, and her team of detectives must untangle a web of contempt in order to uncover a killer’s identity. "

And if my mom wasn't happy enough with a new Flavia, there's a new Agatha Raisin book this week too!

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon by Linda Lafferty
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 442 Pages
To Buy

The official patter: "In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.

It’s 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother’s footsteps. She’s a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home.

Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations—she as a heroic fighter and he as a spiritual seeker—while the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on.

In a captivating tale that brings Durova’s memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process."

Napoleon, Russians, based on fact! Yes please!

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter
Published by: Tor Teen
Publication Date: September 20th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter: "Vassa in the Night is an enchanting, modern retelling of the Russian folktale “Vassilissa the Beautiful” for young adults by the critically-acclaimed author, Sarah Porter. Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy, calls it, "A dark, thoroughly modern fairy tale crackling with wit and magical mayhem."

In the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now―but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood.

In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters―and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission.

But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair….

Inspired by the Russian folktale “Vassilissa the Beautiful” and her years of experience teaching creative writing to students in New York City public schools, acclaimed author Sarah Porter weaves a dark yet hopeful tale about a young girl’s search for home, love, and belonging."

So, you MIGHT think I was doing a Russian theme here at the end, and while yes, I did thing that was cool, it was more hearing that this book was reminiscent of Leigh Bardugo than anything else that sold me...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Raisin, Alan Bradley, Flavia De Luce, Leigh Bardugo, Linda Lafferty, M.C. Beaton, Napoleon, Russia, Sarah Porter, The Girl Who Fought Napoleon, Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, Vassa in the Night

The Gilded Cage by Lucinda Gray
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After growing up on a farm in Virginia, Walthingham Hall in England seems like another world to sixteen-year-old Katherine Randolph. Her new life, filled with the splendor of upper class England in the 1820s, is shattered when she discovers the corpse of her brother George in a lake on the estate-the tragic accidental drowning of a young man, the coroner reports, despite the wound to George's head.

Katherine is expected to observe the mourning customs and get on with her life, but she can't accept that her brother's death was an accident. A bitter poacher prowls the estate, and strange visitors threaten the occupants of the house. There's a rumor, too, that a wild animal stalks the woods of Walthingham.

Can Katherine retain her sanity long enough to find out the truth? Or will her brother's killer claim her life, too?"

Death, mystery, a dress on the cover unlike anything from 1820? I'm sold!

Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nothing is simple when you’re thirty-fifth in line for the British crown, least of all marriage. But with love on their side, and plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau Darcy O’Mara hope to bypass a few royal rules...

With Darcy driving me out of London in a borrowed motor car, I soon discover that he isn’t planning to introduce me to the pleasures of sinning in secret—as I had hoped—but to make me his wife!

Of course, there are some quibbles to be dealt with, such as my needing special permission from the King to marry a Roman Catholic and the question of where we might live after the honeymoon. Though he will inherit a title, Darcy is as broke as I am. Even his family’s Irish castle has been sold to a rich American who now employes Darcy’s father as a hired hand.

Throwing these cares to the wind, nothing could deter us from our mission—except perhaps the news that my future father-in-law has just been arrested. It seems the rich American was murdered and Darcy’s father had more than enough motive to do the deed. With the elopement postponed, we head for Ireland where he insists he’s innocent, and it’s up to us to prove it—for better or worse."

Yes, yes, another new Rhys Bowen we should all rejoice, but is anyone else thinking that the castle on the cover looks like Edith's house from Downton Abbey? Just me?

The Darkness Knows by Cheryl Honigford
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's October 1938, and radio is king. Vivian Witchell is determined to be a star, and with her new role in the popular detective serial The Darkness Knows, everything she's dreamed of is finally within her grasp. Until the night she steps into the employee lounge and stumbles upon the body of the station's biggest--and most reviled--actress. Clutched in the dead woman's hand is a threatening letter that targets Vivian as the next victim. Suddenly, Viv's biggest worry isn't remembering her lines--it's staying alive."

Radio serial leading up to the start of WWII? Mmm, yes please!

The Bertie Project by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith ...Bertie's respite from his overbearing mother, Irene, is over. She has returned from the middle-east, only to discover that her son has been exposed to the worst evils of cartoons, movies and Irn Bru, and her wrath falls upon her unfortunate husband, Stuart. Meanwhile, Bruce has fallen in love with someone other than himself; Big Lou wants to adopt her beloved Finlay; Matthew and Elspeth host the Duke of Johannesburg for supper and Bertie decides he wants to move out of Scotland Street altogether and live with his grandmother, Nicola. Can Irene and Stuart's marriage survive? Will Bruce's new found love last? And will Bertie really leave Scotland Street? Find out in the next installment of this charming, beloved series."

My mom's favorite series. I find it interesting that it's often compared to a shared favorite series, that of the Flavia De Luce mysteries...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 44 Scotland Street, A, Alexander McCall Smith, Cheryl Honigford, Crowned and Dangerous, Downton Abbey, Flavia De Luce, Her Royal Spyness, Lucinda Gray, Rhys Bowen, The Darkness Knows, The Gilded Cage

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: April 28th, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 374 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

At Buckshaw, the ancestral home of the de Luce's, Flavia spends her time lovingly researching poisons and thinking up ways to exact revenge on her two older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne. What else can one do with a distant philatelist father interested only in his stamps, a dead mother, and sisters more concerned with reading and makeup then forging sisterly bonds? Add Mrs. Mullet, a cook who keeps plying them with her unwanted custard pies, and Dogger, the shell shocked comrade in arms who saved the Colonel in the war and is now the house's general dogsbody, and you can see why Flavia likes the uncomplicated world of chemistry to that of her fellow man. Lucky for Flavia the long dead Tarquin de Luce had a fervent love of chemistry equal to hers and she has inherited his envy inducing laboratory in Buckshaw, where even the china has a story to it. But their peace is soon to be disturbed, and not by the shrieks of Feely as her pearls are disintegrated by Flavia, or the muffled sounds of Flavia trying to extricate herself from the closest where her sisters imprisoned her. No. Murder is about to strike Buckshaw, foreshadowed by a dead jack snipe with a postage stamp skewered on it's beak. In the middle of the night Flavia is woken by her father arguing with a man in his study. She is taken back to bed by Dogger and she blasts music to lull herself to sleep rather than stewing in her habitual discontented and inquisitive mindset, but not before she heard her father say he had murdered a man by the name of Twining twenty years ago.

In the early dawn hours she awakens and goes out into the garden to find the intruder almost dead in the cucumber patch, his last words uttered into Flavia's face. The authorities are called and the investigation begins. But Flavia has her own investigations to conduct, starting at the public library and the death of this man named Twining. To her trusty steed, Gladys, her mother's old bicycle that Flavia uses to race off to the library. Which is closed... but soon a librarian approaches. The retired Miss Mountjoy, the bane of the village, has returned to help the current librarian. But her arrival is felicitous, she happens to be the niece of the murdered Twining, who was a teacher at Greyminster, the school Colonel de Luce attended. Twining committed suicide in front of all his students by jumping off the top of the school tower after a prize Penny Black stamp was taken from the headmaster and destroyed in front of his eyes. Flavia, intrigued, then goes to the local inn, assuming that the mystery man had to be staying there. In his room she finds the stamp that was supposedly destroyed... and it's twin! But back at Buckshaw it might be too late... her father has been arrested! Can Flavia save the day and her father before Inspector Hewitt and the other detectives? Or will she need saving herself?

When the dearly departed David Thompson from Murder by the Book casually mentioned a new and unique mystery that he thought I'd like I had little inkling that it would be the start of one of my favorite book series. Six years have passed since he sent me that email, five years since I first read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and David died. I can't believe it's been that long, but the sheer joy with which I've devoured the following six volumes attests to the fact that time hasn't stayed still. Flavia de Luce has worked her way into my heart. Part Addams Family, part Eloise, she's precocious but in a way that isn't cloying because it is balanced by her fondness for the macabre.  Bradley's world is populated with overtones of Christie and Du Maurier, which I'm sure he would gladly confirm. He has given us a wonderful mystery that reads like the best of the British whodunits but with a unique narrator in the guise of Flavia. Her family and their estate remind one of a dysfunctional Larkin family, they all have their little quirks and obsessions. Whether it's Flavia and her chemical compounds or Daffy and her books or the Colonel and his stamps, Bradley has created a myriad of interesting folk and their foibles who you can't help but love. But their bizarre personality quirks aren't just their for the sake of creating a semblance of depth in these people, they are integral to the plot and to the solving of the mystery. Only those with the experiences and backgrounds that the de Luce's possess would be able to see the greater picture.  

Though re-reading it all these years later with the sheer number of books I read per year details have become hazy and it was nice to refamiliarize myself with Flavia's origins. The truth is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is rough around the edges. Bradley has matured as a writer over the years to be more polished and to tell Flavia's story in a more assured and competent manner. With his development over the past few years he has definitely secured Flavia's place among the cannon of British whodunits, even if he's Canadian. But here this assurance is lacking and there are times when I was distinctly put out. Flavia waffles between being mature for her age and being very slow on the uptake. This results in her inner monologue occasionally becoming repetitive and simplistic in her deductions when the answer is actually right in front of her. While the mystery isn't really the driving force of Flavia's story, it is hard on the reader when they are so far ahead of Flavia that you start hoping that she'd get on with it already. But then again, this slow style is typical of the cozy genre and for a first outing, it's better than some writers achieve in their entire life. Yes, it might be a little clunky, yes, it's not perfect, but it does lay the groundwork magnificently for a solid series to come.

What really strikes me coming back to the beginning is just how British this series is. It's not just that this story could only happen to this family but also this could only happen in Britain. My love of Lark Rise to Candleford has made me more then a little obsessed with running a small rural post office in Victorian England, and the history of the postal service and the issuance of stamps and the Penny Black and it's connection to revolutionary forces and how it oddly ties into the climax of the movie The Young Victoria; well, the Anglophile in me was doing a happy dance. I find it interesting that in my original review, which I might have liberally borrowed from here, I found the reminisces of Colonel de Luce over long and unnecessary. But the truth is his unburdening in that little jail cell is the core of this book. Not only do we get this postal history but how much more British can a book get than long reminiscences of boys going to boarding school? The halcyon days of Greyminster and Colonel de Luce's mentor, Twining, are the stuff of Waugh and Powell, but here, here they take a deliciously dark twist. These settings, this time period, it just makes you long to dwell in the world, to walk the crumbling Buckshaw estate and wade out to the little folly. It is a world that is gone and we long to recapture, and here it is thanks to Bradley.    

And then there's Dogger. Dogger is a product of this time and this place and he is the heart of this book. Knowing, as I now know, Dogger's full past, seeing the clues, the little crumb trail that Bradley started here makes me realize what a long game he was playing. But it's not just Dogger, it's the way the de Luce's take care of him and even shelter him. They know Dogger is special and they treat him as such and let him do as he does in order to recover. Dogger is also the balancing force to Flavia. Flavia spends so much time talking about death and poisons and how she would eliminate her siblings, she's a bit out there. In fact, some people might be put off by her love of these deadly arts and that she solves the murder by rather gruesome knowledge. Inspector Hewitt doesn't even want her to finish her demonstration on her articulated skeleton Yorick because he's more than a little spooked. Therefore Flavia needs some way to humanize herself. While anyone who was a young girl would attest to the fact that young girls do spend much of their time planing the downfall of their enemies, it might not be so palatable for readers, and here is where Dogger comes in. Flavia helps Dogger however she can. She helps him through his attacks in whatever way he needs, whether it's a helping hand, a cup of tea, a lie down in his bed, or acting as if everything is OK, Flavia just knows what Dogger needs and does it. He humanizes her and she anchors him, they are the true dynamic duo of this book, sorry Gladys.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alan Bradley, British, Buckshaw, Daphne Du Maurier, Dogger, English Cozy, Flavia De Luce, Lark Rise to Candleford, Murder by the Book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Young Victoria

To me a good mystery isn't just a genre, but the key building block to ALL stories. What better driving force for any narrative than a question that begs answering? It doesn't have to be a true "whodunit" with a murderer caught at the end of the day, but all books should have some "mystery" to them. So what makes a book labelled a "mystery" actually one? Especially considering my weird take on the need of all books to have this driving force? Well, personally, it's that there is a murder. The more complex, the more convoluted, the more devious, the better. If I was said to have any kind of weird superhuman abilities it would be that I'm really good at solving crimes, of the televisual and written variety. Therefore I really like my mysteries to try to trick me. But more than that, the crime shouldn't get in the way of good character development. There has to be a balance between finding the killer and wanting the detective to succeed. All while making the book stick to your hand so that you can't set it down until the very last page. I remember some of the first "adult" books I read were mysteries. Of course they happened to be Lilian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who" books, but they are still a staple of the mystery genre, if at the cozy end of the spectrum. But that's what is wonderful about mysteries! They have all these subgenres from cozy to true crime. From books for those who like the mystery but can't handle the darkness of humanity, to those who love it. Personally, I love it all!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alan Bradley, Backlog Bonanza, Cat Who, Cozy, Detective, Flavia De Luce, Lilian Jackson Braun, Louise Penny, Murder, Mystery, Robert Galbraith, Stephen King, Subgenres, True Crime, Whodunit

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
Published by: Picador
Publication Date: 1994
Format: Paperback, 346 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Mary Russell one day literally walks into Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs. She has just recovered from a horrific accident and has moved to England to be looked after by her aunt. The war is raging across the channel and there's not much to do but wander the Downs and read, hence the walking into Sherlock Holmes. She is intrigued by this man who is intensely studying the bees and soon an unlikely friendship forms. Mary is smart and underfed, the perfect companion for Holmes and his erstwhile housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson. Holmes slowly starts to inform Mary's education, choosing her reading material and her course of study, though he will never fully understand her love of theology. While Holmes might be filling his retirement with Mary, the truth is he's never been fully retired, and one day he finally lets Mary help in a case. The daughter of the US Ambassador has been kidnapped while on holiday in Wales. Dressed as gypsies Russell and Holmes find the young girl and return her to her parents. But this case brings them more forcibly onto the radar of Holmes's arch-nemesis. While Mary goes off to Oxford and Holmes stays in the Downs tending his bees, a web is being spun around them, tighter and tighter, until one day it explodes, much like the beehive that Holmes tends that was rigged with a bomb. Russell, Holmes, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, and even Mycroft are all in danger from this intelligent, resourceful, and determined foe. Holmes decides to take the unexpected step of removing himself from the game with Russell, but this only delays the inevitable. There will be a reckoning, and there will be casualties.

Books that start off slow and build to a climax are a lovely surprise. Books that start off fun and slowly chip away at you until you can't wait to be finished, well those are a different kind of surprise all together. The Beekeeper's Apprentice is of the second kind, sort of. A good solid start was had after an initial wobble, but by the end I was just like Holmes listening to the raving denouement from his tormentor, politely bored. I should have guessed from the beginning that Laurie R. King was the kind of author who would devolve into self-indulgent crap, but I had hopes. Why should I have guessed? That "Editor's Preface" my dear which I tried SO HARD to forget about. That little wobble that started the quake that would bring this book down. In this preface, King sets out to make it seem as if the events we are about to read are real, due to the arrival of a trunk stuffed full of mementos from the life of one Mary Russell. While there's the part of me that got a frisson of excitement thinking how wonderful it would be if such a trunk showed up on my doorstep, it's what King sets out to do with this trunk that baffled me. I mean, obviously as a half-way intelligent reader you've realized you're holding one of the "manuscripts" that reside at the bottom of said trunk, what I don't get is the implications this casts on King herself. King is not only devaluing what she has done in writing this book, claiming it to be Russell's, but there's the plagiarism accusation. An accusation she is willing to embrace. In other words, King is proudly proclaiming herself to be a plagiarist and her publisher a willing accomplice. Um... what now? I'm about to read an entire book by an author who will tear herself down in order to make a joke that falls completely flat? Seriously? I am baffled. It sets the book on a weird footing and no matter how hard you try to forget this, there's a part of you that remembers and cringes and knows, this could all go very pear shaped, very fast.   

This faux whimsy of King's backfires to the extent that you start to question everything she writes. She obviously doesn't take herself seriously, which I will admit is something more writers need to do, but she isn't just lighthearted she denigrates herself with a knowing wink, like her writing isn't good enough. Because of this we don't think her writing is good enough, and it is sadly brought home on every single page. Just look to how she handles Holmes. The way Holmes is different as filtered through the perception of Mary Russell versus Watson rings false again and again. He is different, and this story needed him to be, but he is TOO different. He is the Holmes of the daydreams of a fifteen year old girl with serious daddy issues. He is oddly more romantic and sentimental than Watson would ever have dared say lest a vicious tongue-lashing was to come. His desire to solve crimes isn't based on boredom but a deep seated love of humanity. In other words, he's a big old cuddly teddy bear and Mary Russell is the first one to ever really get that. If there had been some ring of truth to this description than it might have been believable, instead I felt like this book was nothing more than fanfic masquerading as fiction, or faux nonfiction as King would have us "believe." Here's the thing about fanfic, it's fine, it's good to have it in the world, it's just not good if you're book exudes it. This way does Casandra Clare and other such hack writers lie. Your book can have it's birth in fanfic, it just must rise above. It must become something more, something new. While Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist Histories could technically be considered Jane Austen fanfic, or Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles Sailor Moon fanfic, neither reads as such, because they have become something more. The Beekeeper's Apprentice isn't something more.

In fact, it goes all the way to hetfic, with Mary and Holmes being set up to eventually "get it on." And this is where my head goes boom. Just no. No no no. First, Holmes is of the asexual variety of humans. He can not be concerned with the workings of the heart, it takes up space needed in his brain for other things, much like he doesn't know the earth goes around the sun. But then again, here we have the overly sentimental Holmes of Russell's imagination. It's like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, there is nothing I hate more than his relationship with Amy, largely to do with casting, which was just consummated as I write this. It's out of character. These are people above hanky panky, thank you very much. Cerebral over physical. But it's so much more than that. There's the creep factor. Holmes is fifty-two when he meets just turned fifteen Mary. This would make him a pedophile people. Sure nothing "happens" for years, but look what he's doing during those years? He's training her, he's helping her learn his secrets, he's grooming her. Child grooming: IE, what pedophiles do! This is the elephant in the room. It's not the thirty-seven year age difference, it's when the relationship started that is all manners of ew. It's like the current Doctor on Doctor Who getting it on with one of Clara's students, and yes, the age difference is exactly the same! Yes Mary claims she views him as a father figure but doesn't that just make this even more creepy? Am I the only one calling ick? And I'm not even getting into the whole dressing like a boy factor! Looking to see what my friends thought I can't understand how they are all praise and no, hang on a minute this is creepy. Just no. I can definitively say that I won't ever be picking up another book in this series if just for the ew factor.

Though the icky fanfic aspect of this book isn't the only problem I have. King said she set out to write this book to show what Sherlock Holmes would be like if he were born a she in the 20th century. OK, interesting concept to think about. OK, I've thought about it, and I think not. Russell is NOT the 20th century's answer to Sherlock Holmes. Not even going into the whole "Mary Sue" of it all, she can't be the new Sherlock Holmes because he was self-formed and she is obviously formed by Sherlock. She might have had the raw material to become him, but had to have him do it for her. She wasn't going around analyzing dirt at a young age. She wasn't trying to decipher different cigarette ash in her spare time. All she is is a smart girl who is opinionated, religious, had a traumatic incident in her life, and stumbled into Sherlock Holmes's life and was cooed over till she became irreversibly his creature. Not a woman of her own making. If we take out the Jessica Jones backstory and use the actual Sherlock mold, self-made genius, sibling, etc, who we get isn't Mary Russell, it's Flavia De Luce! Alan Bradley who is obviously a far more well honed Sherlockian than King could ever hope to be, understood the nuances needed. This is all just bold brushstrokes. In fact I think I could pick out anyone from literature at random from the "bright young people" and they would have the necessary spark, the dazzling wit, and the intelligence that Mary seems to so "uniquely" have. Ugh. Just. Ugh. Why couldn't Mary have been blown to bits again? Oh yeah, because she's the "star" of this book.

And Mary is a stupid little idiot. Yes, that is redundant, but she's so freakin' stupid that I CAN NOT mention it enough. OK, let me highlight the number one reason why she is stupid. Yes, there are many, many examples, but one in particular made me psychically wince at the stupidity of it all and the laziness of the writing. Especially because it's shown as an example of how much smarter she is than everyone else, someone save me. In my mind it shows how f'ing stupid everyone else is. So the evil villain mastermind what-have-you slashed a message in roman numerals into the seat of Holmes's cab. Holmes and Russell don't really get around to deciphering it until they are on their way back from the holy land and they are stumped. Some two months later while sitting in the Bodleian, Russell has a eureka moment and realizes that it spells out "Moriarty" using the most simplistic alpha numeric code ever devised. First let's take into account that all along the two crime solvers were musing about how this new mastermind was so like Moriarty. Wouldn't you just, I don't know, see if the word carved into the leather was Moriarty first and foremost? I know I would! And if they had, well, I guess the book would have been a lot shorter. Instead this "mystery" is strung out for MONTHS. I have read oh so many Sherlock Holmes inspired books at this point and several of them went into code breaking and ciphers. Many concentrated on the Vigenère cipher because it's hard to crack without the keyword, but is still easy to understand if you're not into cryptanalysis. But here A = 1 and B= 2, oh yippee, let me get this first grader to solve it for you Russell. Well, personally, I'm not stupid enough to pick up any more of this series. Be on your merry way Mary, never shall we meet again. Stupid bint.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Code, Doctor Who, Fan Fic, Flavia De Luce, Laurie R. King, Mary Russell, Mary Sue, Moriarty, Pedophile, Sheldon Cooper, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, The Big Bang Theory

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Flavia can not believe that she has been forced to leave Buckshaw and go all the way to Canada! Sure she's getting the honor, however dubious, of attending her mother's Alma mater, and getting to study with a world famous chemist who may or may not have killed her husband, but it's so far from home and everything familiar. She's never had to experience homesickness before. It doesn't help matters that her voyage to the school is in the hands of Ryerson Rainsmith, the chairman of Miss Bodycote's Female Academy's board of guardians, and his wife Dorsey, two people destined to die in Flavia's fevered imagination. Poison is such a lovely thing to dwell on, especially during a long transatlantic crossing. This being Flavia, the first night she arrives at the school a desiccated body is found in her room's chimney. Unlike anyone else this at least gives Flavia something familiar in this unfamiliar new world. She knows murder and she knows how to solve them. So while some things change, other things will always remain the same.

As much as I love Buckshaw, and I mean, I really love Buckshaw, I would move there if I could in an instant love it, I was both thrilled and terrified at the idea that Flavia was heading off to boarding school in Canada. My feelings were probably pretty much on par with Flavia's own. Miss Bodycote's Female Academy owes much of it's origins to that hallowed fictional institute created by Ronald Searle, St Trinian's. In fact it was Alan Bradley who turned me onto that lovely female academy where it was more likely to find dead bodies and weapons of mass destruction then well behaved gentle ladies ready to make their debut in society. In fact, looking beyond the surface of Miss Bodycote's, I'd say the two are one par, what with Harriet having attended previously, and the curriculum of the students preparing them more for a life of espionage then that of a homemaker. The two schools are almost interchangeable, you have an equal chance of getting killed at each as Flavia soon discovers.

If I had one real complaint about As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust it's that Bradley doesn't properly exploit this new school setting. Instead we get Flavia once again investigating a murder but instead of interacting with her fellow students she quickly finds herself falling into her old habits of interacting with adults only. Previously Flavia didn't have much time for or with her peers, but I was sure that a boarding school environment would force this upon her and hilarity would ensue. Initially it did. The late night Ouija board session which she rigs for her own purposes is some of the most thrilling and hilarious writing to ever flow out of Bradley's books and then the momentum he created is squandered. Couldn't she have gone to classes and done some homework? Found a little happiness with people her own age? Apparently not. The classmates are brushed aside, the adults are questioned, and Flavia is expelled.

This last bit is the most annoying conclusion I could imagine happening. Here we finally have Flavia getting ready to take on the world, to move her story forward, and instead I fear it's going to stagnate because it took one step forward and then two steps back. I can't decide why Bradley did this. Because I don't think Flavia's homesickness warranted this result. Yes, the first six books were a solid arc and the length of Bradley's original contract, but the contract got extended. So now we have a further four books, well three now. By having Flavia leave home I thought, wow, now she can grow up a little. Can you just imagine how much fun Flavia will be as an adult when the Cold War is really starting to gear up? I expect hijinks on the level of Chuck Barris's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This, of course, is all my wishful thinking. But by having Flavia return home, ug. Bad idea. I might have loved this book and Flavia but I did not love where we left her. I want these final four books to be something new, the "next chapter" not the same old same old.

As for the murder itself. I felt that this was easily the weakest of the murders in the whole series. Though the truth is the murder is never the most important aspect of Flavia's books to me, they are a major part of the story and need to hold my attention nonetheless. Yes, there isn't really any new way to kill someone under the sun. If you can think of it, well, in all likelihood it has been thought of before, and most likely by Agatha Christie. Ah, Agatha, you wily lady you, thinking up all the greatest plot twists so that even if someone isn't meaning to they emulate you in same way, shape, or form, they somehow do. In this case it's Dead Man's Folly and your wunderkind sleuth Poirot, and it was a case of really very bad timing.

I actually have a hard time remembering the whodunits of Agatha Christie, they all kind of blend together after awhile so they are eminently re-readable. But as fate would have it the adaptation of Dead Man's Folly filmed at Christie's own home Greenway Estate and staring David Suchet aired at the same time that I received the arc of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust from NetGalley. While it's not exactly the same, it couldn't be identical having been written by two very different and talented writers, well, there was enough similarity that any surprise or suspense was lost because of my foreknowledge. Yes, I know that I am really really good at figuring things out and knowing what's going to happen, but gosh darnit, sometimes I just wish I could be surprised. And while I look forward to my next adventure with Flavia, I hope there's some surprises in store for me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alan Bradley, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, Boarding School, Buckshaw, Canada, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Dead Man's Folly, Flavia De Luce, Poirot, Ronald Searle, St Trinian's

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Flavia de Luce—“part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” (The New York Times Book Review)—takes her remarkable sleuthing prowess to the unexpectedly unsavory world of Canadian boarding schools in the captivating new mystery from New York Times bestselling author Alan Bradley.

Banished! is how twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce laments her predicament, when her father and Aunt Felicity ship her off to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy, the boarding school that her mother, Harriet, once attended across the sea in Canada. The sun has not yet risen on Flavia’s first day in captivity when a gift lands at her feet. Flavia being Flavia, a budding chemist and sleuth, that gift is a charred and mummified body, which tumbles out of a bedroom chimney. Now, while attending classes, making friends (and enemies), and assessing the school’s stern headmistress and faculty (one of whom is an acquitted murderess), Flavia is on the hunt for the victim’s identity and time of death, as well as suspects, motives, and means. Rumors swirl that Miss Bodycote’s is haunted, and that several girls have disappeared without a trace. When it comes to solving multiple mysteries, Flavia is up to the task—but her true destiny has yet to be revealed."

New and awesome Flavia de Luce, be still my heart! But, you know, not still.

Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman by Tessa Arlen
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Lady Montfort has been planning her annual summer costume ball for months with scrupulous care. Pulling together the food, flowers and a thousand other details for one of the most significant social occasions of the year is her happily accepted responsibility. But when her husband's degenerate nephew is found murdered, it's more than the ball that is ruined. In fact, Lady Montfort fears that the official police enquiry, driven by petty snobbery and class prejudice, is pointing towards her son as a potential suspect.

Taking matters into her own hands, the rather over-imaginative countess enlists the help of her pragmatic housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, to investigate the case, track down the women that vanished the night of the murder, and clear her son's name. As the two women search for a runaway housemaid and a headstrong young woman, they unearth the hidden lives of Lady Montfort's close friends, servants and family and discover the identity of a murderer hiding in plain sight.

In this enchanting debut sure to appeal to fans of Downton Abbey, Tessa Arlen draws readers into a world exclusively enjoyed by the rich, privileged classes and suffered by the men and women who serve them. Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman is an elegant mystery filled with intriguing characters and fascinating descriptions of Edwardian life--a superb treat for those who love British novels."

Murder mystery and Downtonesque? YES PLEASE!

The Body Snatchers Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
Published by: Forge Books
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Body Snatchers Affair: The latest in the Carpenter and Quincannon historical mystery series from Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini.

Two missing bodies and two separate investigations take Carpenter and Quincannon from the heights above San Francisco Bay to the depths of Chinatown’s opium dens.

For John Quincannon, this is a first: searching a Chinatown opium den for his client's husband, missing in the middle of a brewing tong war set to ignite over the stolen corpse of Bing Ah Kee.

Meanwhile, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, unsure of the dark secrets her suitor might be concealing, searches for the corpse of a millionaire, stolen from a sealed family crypt and currently being held for ransom.

With the threat of a tong war hanging over the city (a war perhaps being spurred on by corrupt officials), Carpenter and Quincannon have no time to lose in solving their cases. Is there a connection between the two body snatchers? Or is simple greed the answer to this one?

And why is the enigmatic Englishman who calls himself Sherlock Holmes watching so carefully from the shadows?"

The type of book I can't get enough of!

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When two young girls go missing in rural Herefordshire, police constable and wizard-in-training Peter Grant is sent out of London to check that nothing supernatural is involved.

It’s purely routine—Nightingale, Peter’s superior, thinks he’ll be done in less than a day. But Peter’s never been one to walk away from someone in trouble, so when nothing overtly magical turns up he volunteers his services to the local police, who need all the help they can get. But because the universe likes a joke as much as the next sadistic megalomaniac, Peter soon comes to realize that dark secrets underlie the picturesque fields and villages of the countryside and there might just be work for Britain’s most junior wizard after all.

Soon Peter’s in a vicious race against time, in a world where the boundaries between reality and fairy have never been less clear...."

Such a fun series if I could only forgive the author for that horrid Doctor Who novel...

The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson
Published by: Ace Trade
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From beloved author, director, and actress, Amber Benson…

Unbeknownst to most of humankind, a powerful network of witches thrives within the shadows of society, using their magic to keep the world in balance. But they are being eliminated—and we will all pay if their power falls…

When Elyse MacAllister’s great-aunt Eleanora, the woman who raised her, becomes deathly ill, Lyse puts her comfortable life in Georgia on hold to rush back to Los Angeles. And once she returns to Echo Park, Lyse discovers her great-aunt has been keeping secrets—extraordinary secrets—from her.

Not only is Lyse heir to Eleanora’s Victorian estate; she is also expected to take her great-aunt’s place in the Echo Park coven of witches. But to accept her destiny means to place herself in deadly peril—for the world of magic is under siege, and the battle the witches now fight may be their last…"

What's not to love here?

Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author, comedian, and actor Patton Oswalt shares his entertaining memoir about coming of age as a performer and writer in the late ’90s while obsessively watching classic films at the legendary New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles.

Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakeable addiction. It wasn’t drugs, alcohol, or sex. It was film. After moving to L.A., Oswalt became a huge film buff, absorbing classics and new releases at least three nights a week at the New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton’s life schoolbook, informing his notions of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships. Set in the nascent days of the alternative comedy scene, Oswalt’s memoir chronicles his journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective supporting him all along the way.

Ideally timed for awards season, when everyone’s mind is on Hollywood, Silver Screen Fiend follows up on the terrific reception of Oswalt’s New York Times bestselling debut, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. Already a beloved fixture on the comedy stage, on television, and in film—not to mention his 1.87 million Twitter followers—Oswalt announces, with this second book, that he’s also here to stay on the page."

While I definitely have cover issues with this book, it's Patton Oswalt whom I love and am hopefully seeing in a few weeks!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Amber Benson, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, Ben Aaronovitch, Downtonesque, Flavia De Luce, Patton Oswalt, Tessa Arlen, The Body Snatchers Affair, The Witches of Echo Park

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Emerald Torrington is turning twenty. To celebrate there is to be a party at Sterne with her closest friends and family. Yet the family is preoccupied with the fact that unless Charlotte's second husband comes through, they are to lose Sterne. Charlotte stays ensconced in her room as her daughter Emerald busies herself with the preparation for the party, while her son Clovis lounges about, which is what Clovis does best. Her youngest, Smudge, is plotting how to get another animal silhouette on her bedroom wall while the family is busy with the party... Lady the horse is going to be a lot more tricky than the cats or dogs. The maid Mytle and the cook Florence Trieves are in a state trying to get ready for the arrival of the Suttons, Ernest and his sister Patience, as well as John Buchanan, who has been buying up local estates and covets Sterne. Yet all this is pushed to one side when there's a horrible train accident nearby and Sterne is needed to house those who were in the accident.

The upheaval of unexpected guests on the night of a big dinner party is a big to-do, but they all do what they can. There are only a few people after all. But when Charlie Traversham-Beechers walks through that door and back into Charlotte's life, the victims from the accident are the least of their worries. Charlie is invited to dinner, as he is dressed for the occasion, minus a tie... he is a cut above the other ragged souls that have been displaced by the accident. Yet he brings a malevolence with him. A cheerful party becomes mean and vicious. Parlor games taunt and torture, versus entertain. It is as if the devil himself has come into their midst and has unleashed everyone's inhibitions. The passengers also start to increase in number and become more and more rowdy and demanding. Why hasn't the railway come to collect them? How much longer will Sterne endure this upheaval? If the inhabitants of the house can just regain control, just until the dawn, perhaps all will be right.... even if there might still be a horse in Sumdge's room.

Imagine Flavia De Luce in a ghost story like The Woman in Black or The Turn of the Screw and you've pretty much got this book. There are two driving narratives, that of the dinner guests and that of Smudge. Smudge is the comedic counterpoint that balances the continuing degradation of the dinner party. Yet Smudge is the key on which the denouement hinges. Personally I felt that the book was a little hard to get into. Not only do you have trouble establishing a time period, if you are like me and avoid book descriptions like the plague because they might spoil the book, you wouldn't know this book is set in 1912. I was totally confused by the combination of cars, carts, and carriages, that I couldn't dive into the book. Also, the plethora of hard to say names didn't help the narrative at all either. Yet, with the arrival of the train passengers I knew that this book could work. As I said at the time: "If this goes where I'm hoping it goes, it's going to be bloody brilliant!" It did go there! I loved that it was willing to embrace not just the Downton Abbey aspects of the story, but the supernatural aspects that the vagueness of details allowed for.

Yet... in the end, it overstayed it's welcome, much like the passengers. There was a distinct feeling of this should end, but it didn't, at least not when it should have. The party is over, now they're dancing, now they're eating, now they're providing beds for all the people, on and on. Sometimes it's best to leave things to the imagination and just fade to morning. I didn't need to read the minutiae of getting the horse out of the house, or of the inhabitants of Sterne redeeming themselves for their pushing aside of the passengers. By overstaying it's welcome, the book took what would have been a brilliant short story and made it a decent book. It really would have been a wicked awesome short story and kept that air of the supernatural, without having it fade away to meaninglessness.

Also, on a completely different note. I loved this book's design. The cover is sheer perfection, well, except for the mistake of Charlie having a tie. But the end papers being Smudge's silhouettes on her wall was wonderful.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Charlie Traversham-Beechers, Downton Abbey, Flavia De Luce, Sadie Jones, Smudge, Sterne, The Turn of the Screw, The Uninvited Guests, The Woman in Black

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia De Luce Book 6) by Alan Bradley
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 14th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Harriet is returning to Buckshaw. Buckshaw, the home of the de Luce's for not much longer as it is to be sold. With Harriet comes all the other de Luce's. Cousins young and old that Flavia has never met. Considering Flavia doesn't get along with her own siblings, she doesn't hold out much hope for this lot either. But having the family returning and seeing each other for the first time in years means that things that have been buried, old family secrets, rivalries, bodies, including that new one under the train who whispered to Flavia before his demise, all of it could be unearthed by a skilled sleuth who has had a little practice, which she would easily say and even crow about if it didn't annoy the others so much. Flavia is sure something is afoot, and she will figure it out and play God if she is given half a chance.

Originally the Flavia de Luce series was to end with The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches. Luckily, we fans of the series won't have to result to weeping and wailing, pulling out hair and gnashing our teeth because Alan Bradley's contract was extended to include two more books. Sweet relief! Yet there is a nice sense of closure in The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches. We get the denouement he had originally planned to be the culmination of the series, which ends with just the right note and doesn't go in for unrealistic surprises, but we also get a glimpse into what Flavia's future will hold and where the books will go from here.

With the fate of Buckshaw decided and the mystery of Harriet resolved, we get the closure that both us as readers and Flavia as our favorite little precocious poisoner have needed since The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Yet just having all the strings tied together and handed to us in a neat little bow, while giving us closure, wouldn't have given us the depth and intrigue we have come to expect in Bradley's books. Bradley shows us this world of spies and secrets that has always been there, lurking beneath the surface, but never obvious enough to spoil the big reveal. A family as intelligent and as well connected as the de Luce's would be a perfect fit to become government agents, Flavia's governess was teaching her substitution cyphers at a rather young age as it happens. Why else would Winston Churchill show up at Buckshaw for Harriet's return and tell Flavia the cryptic phrases "Pheasant Sandwiches." The book was just delicious with secrets and spies and it made me feel like I was watching the perfection of the first season of The Hour, where you don't know where anyone stands and in a moment your whole world will be upset. In fact, Flavia's world is about to be turned upside down.

While The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches feels like we have reached some sort of endgame, by bringing in the spies and the fact that the Cold War is just beginning in 1951, it feels as if Bradley is securing the longevity of the series by switching gears. Old plots have been wrapped up in order to start anew. By showing the true history of the de Luce's Bradley is setting Flavia center stage for the Cold War. Her genius and her penchant for solving crimes is exactly the kind of genius needed to fight the fight that is to come. Because of all these revelations we see that Flavia herself has changed. She has grown and matured. She realizes that her sisters taunts and jabs were not because she wasn't one of them, but because she was the most like the rest. Daffy and Feely were really the odd ducks out all along. Flavia is the one to carry on the family legacy into this new era.

All this soul searching and revelations make The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches a more intimate novel then in past. While it is the world outside that is at risk, it is what happens within the family, within Flavia, that matters most. There is a shift in Flavia, she is growing up and being able to see herself and her actions from the point of view of others. This insight turns her world on it's head. The way Flavia is even written has changed subtly. For the first time I can remember she makes references to the future and speaks as if what is happening is not in the present but that she is looking back. I will be sad to see this old Flavia go, but I am excited to continue on this journey with her. Though for those who might miss her precocious ways, the introduction of Undine might be a palliative... that's if she doesn't turn into the cousin Oliver of the series.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Cold War, Cousin Oliver, Flavia De Luce, Harriet, Spies, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, The Hour, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia De Luce Book 6) by Alan Bradley
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 14th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"On a spring morning in 1951, eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother, Harriet. Yet upon the train’s arrival in the English village of Bishop’s Lacey, Flavia is approached by a tall stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear. Moments later, he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd. Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia? Back home at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ crumbling estate, Flavia puts her sleuthing skills to the test. Following a trail of clues sparked by the discovery of a reel of film stashed away in the attic, she unravels the deepest secrets of the de Luce clan, involving none other than Winston Churchill himself. Surrounded by family, friends, and a famous pathologist from the Home Office—and making spectacular use of Harriet’s beloved Gypsy Moth plane, Blithe Spirit—Flavia will do anything, even take to the skies, to land a killer."

SO GOOD! Just buy the whole series already won't you?

Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin
Published by:  Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: January 14th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rebus and Malcolm Fox go head-to-head when a 30-year-old murder investigation resurfaces, forcing Rebus to confront crimes of the past.

Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. He is investigating a car accident when news arrives that a case from 30 years ago is being reopened. Rebus's team from those days is suspected of helping a murderer escape justice to further their own ends.

Malcolm Fox, in what will be his last case as an internal affairs cop, is tasked with finding out the truth. Past and present are about to collide in shocking and murderous fashion. What does Rebus have to hide? And whose side is he really on? His colleagues back then called themselves "The Saints," and swore a bond on something called the Shadow Bible. But times have changed and the crimes of the past may not stay hidden much longer -- and may also play a role in the present, as Scotland gears up for a referendum on independence.

Allegiances are being formed, enemies made, and huge questions asked. Who are the saints and who the sinners? And can the one ever become the other?"

New Rebus! Happy dance... now if only they'd bring back the tv series (but with John Hannah).

The Spledour Falls by Susanna Kearsley
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 14th, 2014
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Emily Braden couldn't resist the invitation to join her charming but unreliable cousin, Harry, on a visit to the town of Chinon-where, according to legend, Queen Isabelle hid her treasured jewels during a seige in the 13th century. But when Harry vanishes and Emily begins to search for him, she uncovers the mystery of a different Isabelle. A mystery that dates back to the German occupation during the Second World War. As Emily explores the city, with its labyrinthine tunnels and ancient history, she's drawn ever closer to the mysterious Isabelles and their long-kept secrets."

Yes please!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Flavia De Luce, Ian Rankin, Rebus, Susanna Kearsley, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, The Splendour Falls

A Friendly Game of Murder by J.J. Murphy
Published by: Signet
Publication Date: January 1st, 2013
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

The Algonquin is having their big New Year's Eve Party. Up in the penthouse Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford are giving the party of the season. Down in the lobby Dorothy is waiting for Benchley to arrive so that perhaps she might have the midnight kiss she has dreamed of. Though things go a little south when the hotel is put under quarantine... they can party, but they can't leave. Which is not a problem so long as the booze holds out. When the new Broadway sensation Bibi Bibelot decides to make a bit of a spectacle, in nothing but her birthday suit and some bubbly, tensions become high, and heated for many of the young bucks. When Bibi turns up dead, things get worse. But with her wit and her friends by her side, Dorothy knows she can solve this mystery before the quarantine is lifted, it doesn't hurt that she has the creator of Sherlock Holmes on hand to help her. Of course she does have to figure out how to kill Woollcott before the night is out... sadly that crime is only in fun, being a "friendly game of murder."

There is nothing better then the perfect book at the perfect time. This book was such a book. I have, in recent years, come to love snuggling down for New Year's with a nice book or movie, preferably with a cat nearby. This past year I got to snuggle down and read about characters who have become dear friends while they celebrated their New Year's... albeit fictionally and nearing on a hundred years ago. But still, I can't think of a more perfect New Year's Eve, so kudos to the publishers for coinciding the release date with the story. I'm a die hard book geek and this made my day.

I loved that J.J. really upped the game in this book. In the previous two installments, the characters have been boozing it up and running hither and yon and being who knows where, and, while always a great read, all that tooing-and-frooing can be a little tiring. So having them locked in the Algonquin was a nice respite from all that rushing about greater Manhattan. Yet, this means we are now working within that greatest of detective tropes, the locked room mystery. Does J.J. settle there? No! He one-ups that and makes the murder a locked room in a locked room, the Agatha Christie fan in me did a double squeal of joy, followed by a polite throat clearing in the manner of Poirot. There is also the method of murder being not apparently obvious, so the suspect is not obvious, therefore the how comes before the who. I'm just giddy now.

As for the "guest stars" who wouldn't be over the moon with Arthur Conan Doyle becoming a reluctant sleuth? I love how Dorothy tries to draw him into their world of fun and games, but the stoic Doyle with his walrus moustache tries to stay apart from the rabble... an endeavour that is bound to fail when Dorothy's involved! Yet nothing warmed the cockles of my heart more then Doyle being all blustery and Woolcott being all blustery and having at each other... the denouement of their butting heads is hilarious. Then there is the game of "murder." I think it's spiffing that J.J. used a game that the members of the Round Table actually played and was able to use this as a framing device for the novel, as well as a wonderful title. 

While no one can beat the witty banter and the amusing scenarios that happen when Parker and Benchley are around; I defy someone to find a scene in a recent book as funny as Robert Benchley trying to work the Algonquin Hotel's telephone switchboard, not only are there a lot of crossed wires, but a lot of information gained that is pertinent to the case; I was grateful for "the lovebirds" being apart for the midnight hour. I'm still not sure how I feel about their romance. They are indeed star crossed lovers, but I think that in order to maintain the light air of this series that they must always, alas, remain flirty friends.

On a final note, seriously, can someone tell me when Philately got so big in mysteries? Is it down to Flavia De Luce? Or was it a trend I never noticed till then... because really people, it's everywhere lately.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: A Friendly Game of Murder, Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, Douglas Fairbanks, Flavia De Luce, Happy New Year, J.J. Murphy, Mary Pickford, Philately, Robert Benchley, The Algonquin Round Table