strange and random happenstance

The Plague Court Murders by John Dickson Carr
Published by: American Mystery Classics
Publication Date: 1934
Format: Kindle, 305 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

One night in his club Ken Blake sees fellow member Dean Halliday in extremis. He offers his help and Halliday gladly accepts, provided that Blake keeps an open mind. Halliday's life is falling apart because of a psychical researcher and his medium. Dean's brother died recently and his Aunt, Lady Anne Benning, turned to Roger Darworth to connect to James beyond the veil. Darworth claims that James will not rest until the ghosts of Plague Court are put to rest. Plague Court is a grim property long reputed to be haunted. The Halliday's acquired it in the 18th century but it's name comes from a disgraced hangman, Louis Playge, who was the brother of the steward under the previous owner and died of the black death after viciously attacking the family with a unique knife he used to cut the hanged men down and is rumored to be buried on the property. It is his ghost that supposedly haunts it's halls. Halliday wants to prove that Darworth is a fake. Which is extra hard seeing as Darworth claims to have no abilities of his own and that those lie in his assistant, Joseph. Blake suggests bringing in his friend Chief-Inspector Humphrey Masters who happens to dabble in a bit of ghost hunting in his spare time and loves nothing more than exposing fake mediums and Halliday acquiesces. Masters is particularly pleased given the fact that the Playge Dagger was just stolen from a London museum and he's had his eye on Darworth for years and he's sure the two must be connected when he hears Halliday's tale of woe. When the trio arrives at Plague Court they are surprised to find people in residence. Halliday's Aunt Anne, his fiance Marion Latimer, Marion's brother Ted, and Major Featheron are all sitting in the bleak house holding some sort of vigil. It appears that tonight is the night that Darworth has decided to lay the ghost of Louise Playge to rest. He has sequestered himself in a little stone hut in the back. He's locked in the room from both the inside and the outside. So naturally, when he turns up dead with Louis Playge's dagger in his back everyone is flummoxed. There was no way to enter the structure and what's more, given the expanse of mud surrounding the building without a single footprint the crime is impossible. Which means it's time to call in the experts. It's time to call in Sir Henry Merrivale.

Original published under John Dickson Carr's "impenetrable" pseudonym Carter Dickson one can't say that the author didn't believe in fair play, even in choosing his nom de plume. Which, really, is a relief. I don't like mysteries where the reader can't figure out the killer, and yes, I'm glaring at you Josephine Tey! You can't introduce characters who have never even been introduced or mentioned in the entire book in your solution! That's not fair! Hence, fair play. And I don't want to brag, but I almost had the whole solution, I didn't realize that one person was disguised and I was wrong about which police officer was corrupt, but other than that, I was right there with Sir Henry Merrivale. And Sir Henry Merrivale is the reason I read this book. I was compiling my Christmas reading and I had added the newly reissued Carter Dickson book, The White Priory Murders, to my list when I realized it was the second in the series. Which, because of how I'm built, meant I had to read the first book in the series, The Plague Court Murders. Thankfully my library had a copy and it sounded suitably spooky to pair with my Halloween reading before I moved on to my Christmas reading. So I dove in. And honestly, it's hard to pinpoint what exactly about this book doesn't work. Seances, psychics, locked rooms, all of it is things that I just love. Plus with the bleak history of Plague Court oozing House of Usher vibes, I really wanted to like it, but I just didn't. The narrator, Ken Blake, is problematic. He just wasn't good. He was too bland. Too much a cipher. I just couldn't get a read on him. He was unable to carry the narrative until Sir Henry Merrivale finally arrived over halfway through the book. By that point I wasn't really invested in the story. My interest could not be reinvigorated by Sir Henry's interest. And then there's my main gripe, it is really annoying and every blurb of this book gets it wrong. Plague Court is named after Louis Playge, the disgraced hangman who died of the plague and was supposedly buried on the property. Louis Playge was the brother of George Playge, who was steward to Lord Seagrave, who was the owner of the property that became known was Plague Court. And Thomas Frederick Halliday bought it from Lord Seagrave in 1711. There was never a Playge owner! So why is it called Plague Court? Because of the ghost stories surrounding Louis Playge? Some enduring urban legend? Now THIS is the mystery that I want answered.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Carter Dickson, Fair Play, John Dickson Carr, Josephine Tey, Locked Room, Louis Playge, Murder Most Foul, Plague Court, Psychic, Seance, Sir Henry Merrivale, The Plague Court Murders, The White Priory Murders

If you pay any attention to the cozy genre you'll have seen an adjacent subgenre that's been making itself more and more prominent in recent years, the famous author as sleuth. Yes, there are more "literary" ambitions thrown in like Arthur and George by Julian Barnes, but for me, when they hew closer to the cozy they are more fun. A complete fantasy versus something mired in reality. Josephine Tey, Dorothy Parker, Daphne Du Maurier, and even Agatha Christie herself have solved crimes at the hands of modern day authors. What speaks to me about these books is their meta nature. It's a fun what if! What if these writers, especially those who wrote crime fiction, had some real life inspiration? What if they stumbled on a crime and had a compulsion to solve it? What if said crime inspired them to write? A completely and wonderfully absorbing fantasy. But I also love it when popular literary figures who are in no way connected with crime solve mysteries. One of my favorites in this very niche genre is the Algonquin Round Table Mysteries that has that ever so chic of twenties authors Dorothy Parker solving crimes, often with the likes of Houdini and Conan Doyle! Then there's the Mitford Murder series by Jessica Fellowes. While none of the Mitfords who took pen to paper actually wrote mysteries, the six sisters were a staple of twenties gossip columns so it makes sense that they would fictionally turn to solving crimes. Or at least it does in my mind. So join me in experiencing the roaring twenties through the prose of modern authors envisioning the past through the eyes of some of the twenties most interesting literary and historical figures.      

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1920s, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bright Young Detectives, Cozy, Daphne Du Maurier, Dorothy Parker, Jessica Fellowes, Josephine Tey, Mitfords, Roaring Back to Reading, The Algonquin Round Table

The End of Temperance Dare by Wendy Webb
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: June 6th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Despite a looming sense of dread she's carried for months everything seems to be falling into place for Eleanor Harper but in the most unexpected of ways. She loses her job as a crime reporter at the same time the position for director of the prestigious Cliffside Manor artists retreat becomes available. Eleanor has been drawn to the old tuberculosis hospital ever since she went there twenty years earlier as a cub reporter covering the sudden deaths of the hospital's founder, Chester Dare, and one of his daughters, Milly, in a tragic car accident. His remaining daughter, Penelope, has run the retreat ever since and she feels it's time to hand the reigns to the next generation. While Eleanor isn't the most qualified Miss Penny felt a connection to her all those years ago because they both agreed that the accident was no accident. Miss Penny never blamed Eleanor, who as an inexperienced reporter was unable to shed light on the deaths, but admired her tenacity and has followed her journalistic career with interest. When Eleanor arrives at the Manor through the mists she feels like she's home. Miss Penny welcomes her with open arms and inducts her into the running of the retreat, which is mainly handled by an extensive staff. In a week they are to get the current group of artists for a month-long residency and Eleanor will shadow Miss Penny until she's confident enough that she can handle the responsibilities herself. At least that's what Eleanor thought the plan was to be, Miss Penny had other ideas, as that afternoon she commits suicide and leaves everything in Eleanor's inexperienced hands. Eleanor is baffled by the predicament she has landed in but she views it only right to mourn but continue on in Miss Penny's memory. Therefore a week later the five artists arrive. Things do not go to plan. Miss Penny brought everyone here with a purpose... is she acting from beyond the grave? But more importantly, is she acting alone or are other supernatural elements at work?

Here's the problem I have with Gothic stories that involve haunted houses, there needs to be enough wiggle room that the "haunting" could all be chalked up to psychological issues. You need that suspension of disbelief. You have to be convinced or dissuaded through the story, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is a masterclass in this conceit. A Tuberculosis hospital is a whole lot of heck no from me. The reason for this is that TB hospitals were, as it says in this book, a “waiting room for death.” All hauntings derive from a death, here we have a plurality of death, so in my mind there is no question as to whether or not Cliffside Manor is haunted. It is SO haunted. This is a place where ghost hunters go, not artistic types. I have NO DOUBT that ghosts exist. What exactly they are I'm not sure, but I have seen many ghosts in my life, some benign, some very much the opposite. I would NEVER go willingly to a place like Cliffside Manor, it would be too much. Add to that the fact this retreat is made for artists like me... I really don't get how places at the retreat are so sought after. Yes, there is a wide range of susceptibility when it comes to seeing the supernatural, but the truth is the more sensitive you are to the world around you, the more open you are, the more likely you are to have such an experience. Therefore people who are artistic are more likely to pick up on these vibes, much like how artists are the ones who can hear the call of Cthulhu in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. So how are these artists not being like, don't go there, it's haunted. Word of mouth would spread like wildfire, but instead they have people clamoring for vacancies. This makes no sense to me, which makes me feel like the entire setup is unbelievable and therefore I don't buy into the story.

What's more it's hard to buy into a story where you're not quite certain if you're dealing with an unreliable narrator or not. My problem in this instance was that I couldn't tell if the red herrings I was following were meant to be red herrings or were just bad editing. To be clear, I reached the correct conclusion, I just don't know if I was meant to reach that conclusion in the first few chapters. What alerted my spider senses was Eleanor arriving at Cliffside Manor on a Thursday and the guests being scheduled to arrive the next Friday, but within minutes it was "arriving in one week." I don't know who taught Eleanor or Webb about the days of the week but that's longer than a week. Yes, you could brush it off as just common vernacular, it's about a week, but the way Webb writes I disagree. She is very precise, very matter of fact, you can tell she was a journalist herself in the very way everything is as it should be and nothing is out of place. If a book could be neat as a pin, this would be that book, and if I'm honest, I'd rather choose sloppy and lyrical than this. Which makes this first error glaring. IF this was a hint as to Eleanor's reliability as a narrator, I have to give Webb kudos. It was subtle and just enough to bait the reader. If, on the other hand, this was just a typo, in fact the most common of typos if I'm to be honest, because writers as a whole don't look at calendars despite the fact you can look up ANY calendar year online, well, then it's bad luck that a transcription or writing or editing error gave away something that's rather important. But then again, I feel like the whole unreliable narrator is played out. It's a way to delay the reveal while having the answer in front of you the whole time, and to me, that's kind of smug storytelling, though not nearly as bad as an author like Josephine Tey who purposefully left clues out so that the reader couldn't solve her riddles.

The truth is, The End of Temperance Dare relies too heavily on overplayed tropes. The obviously haunted local, the unreliable narrator, the love triangle (more on that in a minute), and the sexualization of children as a sign of evil. Think of all the movies and all the books over the years that have had innocent children possessed by evil spirits say licentious things and you know where I'm coming from. The Exorcist anyone? The problem I have with this trope is that instead of just being unsettling it verges on the edge of child exploitation, which is one of the MANY reasons I have never read Anne Rice again after Interview with the Vampire because of how she handles Claudia. Here it's taken further with the evil spirit of Temperance who is eleven in human years being obsessed with the Doctor as her future husband and later while controlling her sisters body not only is a loose woman, but stalks the photographer Richard, who is one of the members of the retreat we meet. It's hinted at that she was born a demon and she had impure thoughts and behaviors from the day she was born, yet Webb is never explicit enough with these revelations. Instead she leaves it all up to the reader's imagination, and I just don't like that because it's a cop out. She shows us these disturbing images and behaviors and then never fully goes to the root of the evil, therefore making the villain a sexually precocious child. That just freaks me out too much. And not in the good way. Instead I felt ill and the denouement and happily ever after left a bitter taste in my mouth because evil was left to be evil and the motives behind that evil were just to have her way with everyone especially these two men?

These two men who then form the other two corners of a love triangle wit Eleanor/Temperance. Because instead of Eleanor being involved in a healthy relationship she finds herself drawn into flirtations with the retreat's doctor, Nat, and one of the guests, Richard. This triangle felt so forced. Here is a professional woman trying to make a good impression at her new job and instead she is behaving like a lovestruck teenager... or should I say sexually precocious child? So the reason I hated this element of the narrative isn't that I just hate love triangles, because I do, I really really do, it's because the relationships don't feel like they organically develop. Which, I guess you could say, they didn't. But in order to achieve that happily ever after we bafflingly reach there has to be a kernel of truth amongst all the supernatural manipulations for the ending to be at least mildly believable. But in the end, looking at the whole story of Temperance Dare, I can't help think that it was a looong setup for very little reward. Sure, all the pieces fit into place, but mechanically. You have no emotions invested in the characters. It's too by the book. A paint by numbers narrative which would just horrify Henry, who was the resident painter at the retreat who worked in oils yet had no proper venting in his room for painting oils indoors. And then a happy ending where everyone gets what they want? That's not believable, that's contrived. I haven't read any of Webb's other books, but I hope there's a little more spark and a lot less plodding out of plot points. I can't take another book like this one, it was too predictable and plebeian.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anne Rice, Artists' Retreat, Ghosts, Going Gothic, Interview with the Vampire, Josephine Tey, Possession, Shirley Jackson, The End of Temperance Dare, The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill House, Trope, Wendy Webb

Death in St. Petersburg by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After the final curtain of Swan Lake, an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night’s performance. But outside the scene is somber. A ballerina’s body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen. The crowd is silenced by a single cry― “Nemetseva is dead!”

Amongst the theatergoers is Lady Emily, accompanying her dashing husband Colin in Russia on assignment from the Crown. But it soon becomes clear that Colin isn’t the only one with work to do. When the dead ballerina’s aristocratic lover comes begging for justice, Emily must apply her own set of skills to discover the rising star’s murderer. Her investigation takes her on a dance across the stage of Tsarist Russia, from the opulence of the Winter Palace, to the modest flats of ex-ballerinas and the locked attics of political radicals. A mysterious dancer in white follows closely behind, making waves through St. Petersburg with her surprise performances and trail of red scarves. Is it the sweet Katenka, Nemetseva’s childhood friend and favorite rival? The ghost of the murdered étoile herself? Or, something even more sinister?"

Lady Emily and St. Petersburg! Can you think of a better fit for Tasha's character?

Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first book in a classic Golden Age mystery series perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

When Mordecai Tremaine arrives at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame on Christmas Eve, he discovers that the revelries are in full swing in the sleepy village of Sherbroome―but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.

When midnight strikes, the partygoers discover that presents aren't the only things nestled under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas. With the snow falling and suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit―and prevent anyone else from getting murder for Christmas.

Murder for Christmas is a festive mystery for the holiday season: mulled wine, mince pies... and murder."

The holidays and murder just go together so well... 

Nine Lessons by Nicola Upson
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Called to the peaceful wooded churchyard of St-John’s-at-Hampstead, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces one of the most audacious and unusual murders of his career. The body of the church’s organist is found in an opened grave, together with a photograph of a manor house and a cryptic note. The image leads Archie to Cambridge, where the crisp autumn air has brought with it bustling life to the ancient university and town.

Mystery author Josephine Tey and Archie's lover Bridget Foley have each recently settled in Cambridge, though both women are not equally happy to see him. One has concealed an important secret from Archie which now threatens to come to light. Meanwhile, the change of seasons has also brought with it a series of vicious attacks against women in town, spreading fear and suspicion through the community.

Soon, another body is revealed, and in the shadow of King’s College Chapel, Archie uncovers a connection twenty-five years old which haunted both victims―as well as some of their living companions. As Archie and Josephine each grapple with savage malefactors intent on making their victims pay, they must race to stop another attack in this beautifully written, intricately plotted mystery."

This week is ALL about the cover lust. WANT!

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Published by: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For the first time in one volume, a collection of Shirley Jackson’s scariest stories, with a foreword by PEN/Hemingway Award winner Ottessa Moshfegh.

After the publication of her short story “The Lottery” in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller. This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Summer People.” In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There’s something sinister in suburbia.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators."

October should just be renamed Shirley Jackson.

Ghosts of Empire by George Mann
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the aftermath of the events seen in Ghosts of Karnak, and with the political climate somewhat eased, Gabriel takes Ginny to London by airship to recuperate. But he isn’t counting on coming face-to-face with a man who claims to embody the spirit of Albion itself, sinister forces gathering in the London Underground and an old ally – the British spy, Peter Rutherford – who could desperately use his help."

How long have I had this preordered? Since before it had a release date!

Sorcery for Beginners by Matt Harry
Published by: Inkshares
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 300 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Five-hundred years ago, sorcery began to fade from the world. As technology prevailed, combustion engines and computers replaced enchanted plows and spell books. Real magicians were hunted almost to extinction. Science became the primary system of belief, and the secrets of spell-casting were forgotten. That is... until now.

Sorcery for Beginners is no fantasy or fairy tale. Written by arcane arts preservationist and elite mage Euphemia Whitmore (along with her ordinary civilian aide Matt Harry), this book is a how-to manual for returning magic to an uninspired world. It's also the story of Owen Macready, a seemingly average 13-year-old who finds himself drawn into a centuries-long war when he uses sorcery to take on a school bully. Owen's spell casting attracts the attention of a ruthless millionaire and a secret society of anti-magic mercenaries, all of whom wish to use Sorcery for Beginners to alter the course of world history forever."

Do you have shivers? Because I have shivers. And hopefully not just because I'm really cold...

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Here is a thing everyone wants:

A miracle.

Here is a thing everyone fears:

What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado, is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect."

Right now, I'd take any kind of miracle. 

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship."

If the protagonist isn't all about the Terry Pratchett love I'm calling foul on this title. Yes, I KNOW Terry Pratchett doesn't hold the patent on the "Turtles All the Way Down" saying, but he should! It's implied that he has ownership of it.

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power  by Mariko Tamaki
Published by: Amulet Books
Publication Date: October 10th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. The five scouts of Roanoke cabin—Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley—love their summers at camp. They get to hang out with their best friends, earn Lumberjane scout badges, annoy their no-nonsense counselor Jen . . . and go on supernatural adventures. That last one? A pretty normal occurrence at Miss Qiunzella’s, where the woods contain endless mysteries.

Today is no exception. When challenge-loving April leads the girls on a hike up the TALLEST mountain they’ve ever seen, things don’t go quite as planned. For one, they didn’t expect to trespass into the lands of the ancient Cloud People, and did anyone happen to read those ominous signs some unknown person posted at the bottom of the mountain? Also, unicorns.

This hilarious, rollicking adventure series brings the beloved Lumberjanes characters into a novel format with brand-new adventures."

Firstly, if they just got an editor to check all the typos I'll be happier than I am reading the comics. BUT there's a big secondly... no Noelle Stevenson!?! For shame!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: George Mann, John Green, Josephine Tey, Lumberjanes, Maggie Stiefvater, Matt Harry, Murder for Christmas, Nicola Upson, Noelle Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, Sorcery for Beginners, Tasha Alexander, Terry Pratchett

Journey to Munich by Jaqueline Winspear
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: March 29th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue—the twelfth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling “series that seems to get better with each entry” (Wall Street Journal).

It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich.

The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help.

Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved. But the Secret Service may have other ideas. . . ."

Ohhh, new Maisie Dobbs, can not wait. 

Britghton Belle by Sara Sheridan
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 29th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Great fun. The world needs Mirabelle's feistiness, intelligence, and charm." --James Runcie, author of the Grantchester mysteries

In post-World War II England, former Secret Service operative Mirabelle Bevan becomes embroiled in a new kind of intrigue…

1951: In the popular seaside town of Brighton, it's time for Mirabelle Bevan to move beyond her tumultuous wartime years and start anew. Accepting a job at a debt collection agency seems a step toward a more tranquil life.

But as she follows up on a routine loan to Romana Laszlo, a pregnant Hungarian refugee who's recently come off the train from London, Mirabelle's instincts for spotting deception are stirred when the woman is reported dead, along with her unborn child.

After encountering a social-climbing doctor with a sudden influx of wealth and Romana's sister, who seems far from bereaved and doesn't sound Hungarian, Mirabelle decides to dig deeper into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. Aided by her feisty sidekick--a fellow office worker named Vesta Churchill ("no relation to Winston," as she explains)--Mirabelle unravels a web of evil that stretches from the Brighton beachfront to the darkest corners of Europe. Putting her own life at risk, she must navigate a lethal labyrinth of lies and danger to expose the truth."

Um, what doesn't scream me about this book?

London Rain by Nicola Upson
Published by: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: March 29th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Intrepid writer and amateur sleuth Josephine Tey returns in this sixth installment of Nicola Upson’s popular series—perfect for fans of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Jaqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs—that unfolds in 1930s London as England prepares to crown a new king.

London, 1937. Following the gloomy days of the abdication of King Edward VIII, the entire city is elated to welcome King George. Just one of the many planned festivities for the historic coronation is a BBC radio adaptation of Queen of Scots, and the original playwright, Josephine Tey, has been invited to sit in on rehearsals.

Soon, however, Josephine gets wrapped up in another sort of drama. The lead actress has been sleeping with Britain’s most venerable newsman, Anthony Beresford—and his humiliated wife happens to work in the building. The sordid affair seems to reach its bloody climax when Beresford is shot to death in his broadcasting booth at the deafening height of the coronation ceremony.

Josephine’s dear friend, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose, has the case wrapped up before long. But when a second, seemingly related murder throws Penrose for a loop, it falls to Josephine to unravel a web of betrayal, jealousy, and long-held secrets… caught all the while in a love triangle of her own making.

Charming and provocative, thick with the atmosphere of prewar England, London Rain is a captivating portrait of a city on the edge—and an unforgettable woman always one step ahead of her time."

I would be lying if I said that Mick Wiggins artwork didn't draw me to both Winspear and Upson... so glad his amazing artwork helped find some great books. Also two new covers in one week, graphic designer swoon!

The Lost Cases of Bryant and May: London's Glory by Christopher Fowloer
Published by: Random House LLC
Publication Date: March 29th, 2016
Format: Kindle
To Buy

The official patter:Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are London’s craftiest and bravest detectives—and there’s no better pair to solve the city’s most confounding crimes. In this riveting eBook collection of mystery short stories, available together for the first time, Christopher Fowler takes Bryant and May on a series of twisting adventures and brings readers behind the scenes of his beloved novels.

Includes a preview of Christopher Fowler’s new Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery, Bryant & May and the Burning Man!

In “Bryant & May in the Field,” a woman is found with her throat slashed in a snowy park, yet the killer managed to escape without leaving any footprints. In “Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman,” a businessman drowns in the pool of a posh club, and the only suspect is a young woman who remains almost too calm during questioning. And in “Bryant & May Ahoy!” the pair go on holiday on a friend’s yacht in Turkey, but Bryant realizes there’s something fishy about their fellow passengers. From London’s grandest mansions to its darkest corners, from the Christmas department of Selfridges to a sinister traveling sideshow, there’s no scene too strange for the Peculiar Crimes Unit and the indefatigable detectives at its helm."

I would comment on the book if I wasn't soo obsessed with figuring out where I've seen that type before... grumble grumble... must figure it out. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brighton Belle, Bryant and May, Christopher Fowler, Jacqueline Winspear, Josephine Tey, Journey to Munich, London Rain, London's Glory, Maisie Dobbs, Mick Wiggins, Nicola Upson, Sara Sheridan, Tuesday Tomorrow

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Published by: Book-of-the-Month Club
Publication Date: 1887
Format: Hardcover, 131 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Doctor John Watson has been invalided out of the army and is looking for a place to call home. He runs into an old colleague, Stamford, who says that he knows someone else who is looking for a roommate, having found the perfect place at 221B Baker Street. He warns Watson that Sherlock Holmes is a little odd. Watson readily agrees to room with this intriguing man, who knows so much about certain sciences, yet doesn't know the earth goes around the sun. One day over breakfast Watson reads an incredulous article in the paper about the science of deduction and thinks it is pure bunkum. Holmes is a little miffed, he wrote the article after all and decides to prove the truth of it by having Watson tag along when he leaves the house on one of his mysterious errands. It turns out that Holmes is the world's only consulting detective and he has been summoned to a crime scene by Scotland Yard. There lies the body of Enoch Drebber. Dead but without a mark on him. Written on the wall in blood is the world "rache." A close examination of the crime scene, a visit to the officer who was first on the scene, a few telegrams later, and Holmes knows who the killer is. Not only that, he is able to produce the killer in the sitting room of 221B Baker Street for the police officers. The explanation as to how he came to his conclusion is a much longer story and involves love, marriage, and Mormons.

Despite watching so many adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories, other then possibly reading The Hound of the Baskervilles in grade school, I had never picked up any of Arthur Conan Doyle's books to read. So quite a few years back now I picked up A Study in Scarlet and I couldn't actually believe that this was how the greatest consulting detective of all time started out. Firstly, I was bored. But more importantly it seems more like a treatise against Mormonism than anything else. I mean, in all seriousness, what was Arthur Conan Doyle's issue with the Mormons? Because there isn't just dislike, there is hate emanating out of these pages. Fiery, burn in the hottest circles of hell hate. I couldn't really get past the fact that so little of the book was the actual mystery and so much of the book was a rallying cry against religion that I quite quickly decided to not read any further in the Sherlockian oeuvre until I could rectify my expectations with reality. So, obviously that took a few years, and my newish addiction to Sherlock coupled with the dearth of new episodes made me realize that perhaps the time had come to read all the Sherlock Holmes books. All of them! At least I was prepared for A Study in Scarlet this time around, so there wasn't going to be any surprises. Or so I thought. I was actually surprised that I really liked it.

This second reading of the book produced an unexpected enjoyment and it is all down to Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch. I literally can not count the number of times I have watched the nine episodes that currently exist in this series, but that first season, and that pilot episode are easily the ones I have watched the most. From what I remember of all the stories Conan Doyle had written, this modern retelling is a loose interpretation. They pick out details here and there and spin them into something new and exciting. Having forgotten everything in A Study in Scarlet, minus the Mormon hate, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the original story was actually incorporated into "A Study in Pink." The reinterpretation of the source material made me appreciate it more. The adaptation had streamlined the story into a more taught narrative, yet at the same time it helped me understand the original more. Plus, the little reversals are extra funny. Holmes pointing out "rache" as the German for revenge in the original story, while in the TV episode he smacks down Anderson for the deduction as simplistic. Though it was the cabbie as killer combined with the two pills, one that was deadly, that made me shiver. Oh Gatiss and Moffat, sometimes you really piss me off, and other times, man, you nail it. Also, thank you for not testing the pills on a dog and killing it. I think that is where Conan Doyle went a little too far.

Yet just because I enjoyed A Study in Scarlet more this time around does not mean I was blind to it's flaws. The main flaw is that the mystery is written in such a way that you as the reader can not solve it. Part of the fun of mysteries is seeing if you can follow the clues and the red herrings and come to the same deduction as the detective, and perhaps beat him or her to the punch. The way the story is set up Holmes figures it all out and arrests the culprit. Then there's the long and hateful flashback to America and the Mormons, in which Conan Doyle proves his ignorance, mainly about American geography, I can't speak to the Mormon part, and then everything is handed to us on a plate as a fait accompli. I don't like this kind of storytelling. On a re-read it isn't so bad because you already know who the killer is, but on a first read it just angers me. The god like pretension of an author to think that they can change storytelling convention to appear more intelligent by being the only ones who could solve this crime. Of course you're the only one who could solve it, you wrote it so the reader wouldn't know! And this is why I hate Josephine Tey. She is noted for her interesting and modern narrative structure, otherwise called bullshit by me. Her book The Man in the Queue was one of the worst books I've read, and guess what, you're lack of adhering to conventions wasn't original, here is Conan Doyle doing it forty-two years earlier!

What I still find interesting is that when I first read this book the youth of Holmes and Watson struck me. Over time you get this fixed idea of what they look like, the staid middle aged Victorian gentleman. But this isn't the case at all! Given the supposed date of Holmes's birth and the date of the events in this story, Sherlock would only be twenty-seven years old! I mean, I know you were viewed older sooner then, what with younger mortality rates, but still, twenty-seven is damn young! While I'm not going to bother looking up all the ages of the copious actors who have played Holmes over the years, one thing can be deduced readily, and that they are never as young as he is in his first adventure. While most cases can be put down to the fact that for a series you need an actor who can play Holmes at a variety of ages, so casting older helps. But still, I wonder if it's just psychological. That we, as the audience, wouldn't take such a young man seriously. That he would have the gravity that is expected of Holmes. I of course call foul, if just for my undying love of the Young Sherlock Holmes. But on the whole, Holmes is played as the audience expects him to be. I bet if you asked the random Sherlockian Holmes's age in the first adventure, they'd place him in his mid to late forties. And they would be oh so wrong.

A point of interest that brings about much contemplation to me is that this story, which contained a murder whose like was never seen prior, was serialized exactly one year prior, and published in book form the same year as the first Jack the Ripper killings, in particular the canonical five. In fact, Jack the Ripper is often fused with multiple genres, Sherlock Holmes being one of them. I wonder, did A Study in Scarlet inspire a man prone to killing to commit a crime the likes of which had never been seen? It's almost as if Conan Doyle was egging someone on to take up the challenge Holmes laid at the feet of his culprit. Or was Conan Doyle that in touch with the changing times that he knew this violence, these types of horrific acts of murder, were the future of crime and he caught the spirit of these times in his stories? Because both Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes fascinate us to this day. Did one influence the other in any way or was it just the society of that time? Yes, I might be a bit of a ripperologist, but I had never really thought about the confluence of these two very famous Victorians. It is no wonder that people have been creating mashups... it's something to really get those little grey cells working, as another famous detective would say.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Study in Pink, A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jack the Ripper, John Watson, Josephine Tey, Mark Gatiss, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, Steven Moffat, The Young Sherlock Holmes

Bliss House by Laura Benedict
Published by: Pegasus
Publication Date: June 10th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Death never did come quietly for Bliss House . . . and now a mother and daughter have become entwined in the secrets hidden within its walls.

Amidst the lush farmland and orchards in Old Gate, Virginia, stands the magnificent Bliss House. Built in 1878 as a country retreat, Bliss House is impressive, historic, and inexplicably mysterious. Decades of strange occurrences, disappearances and deaths have plagued the house, yet it remains vibrant. And very much alive.

Rainey Bliss Adams desperately needed a new start when she and her daughter Ariel relocated from St. Louis to Old Gate and settled into the house where the Bliss family had lived for over a century. Rainey’s husband had been killed in a freak explosion that left her 14 year-old daughter Ariel scarred and disfigured.

At the grand housewarming party, Bliss House begins to reveal itself again. Ariel sees haunting visions: the ghost of her father, and the ghost of a woman being pushed to her death off of an upper floor balcony, beneath an exquisite dome of painted stars. And then there is a death the night of the party. Who is the murderer in the midst of this small town? And who killed the woman in Ariel's visions? But Bliss House is loath to reveal its secrets, as are the good folks of Old Gate."

Ohhh, this sounds like a story worthy of Shirley Jackson... speaking of which...

Shirley: A Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell
Published by: Blue Rider Press
Publication Date: June 10th, 2014
Format: Paerback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A fictional young couple spends a year at Bennington in 1964 with novelist Shirley Jackson and her husband in this captivating psychological thriller."

Shirley Jackson has now reached the stage where she can be a "fictional" character in a novel, much like the Nicola Upson Josephine Tey books, speaking of which...

The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson
Published by: Bourbon Street Books
Publication Date: June 10th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this atmospheric, intriguing historical mystery brimming with psychological tension, an unexpected inheritance plunges beloved British mystery author Josephine Tey into a disturbing puzzle of dark secrets eerily connecting the present and the past.

When Josephine Tey unexpectedly inherits Red Barn Cottage from her estranged godmother, the will stipulates that she must personally claim the house in the Suffolk countryside. But Josephine is not the only benefactor—a woman named Lucy Kyte is also in Hester’s will.

Sorting through the artifacts of her godmother’s life, Josephine is intrigued by an infamous death committed on the cottage’s grounds a century before. Yet this old crime—dubbed the Red Barn murder—still seems to haunt the tight-knit village and its remote inhabitants. Is it just superstition, or is there a very real threat that is frightening the locals? Could the truth be related to the mysterious Lucy Kyte, who no one in the village admits to knowing?

With a palpable sense of evil thickening around her, Josephine must untangle historic tragedy from present danger and prevent a deadly cycle from beginning once more."

Oh, more Josephine Tey, crime solver!

Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil by James Runcie
Published by: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: June 10th, 2014
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Our favorite clerical detective is back with four longer mysteries in which Canon Sidney Chambers attempts to stop a serial killer with a grievance against the clergy; investigates the disappearance of a famous painting after a distracting display of nudity by a French girl in an art gallery; uncovers the fact that an “accidental” drowning on a film shoot may have been something more sinister; and discovers the reasons behind the theft of a baby from a hospital just before Christmas 1963.

In the meantime, Sidney wrestles with the problem of evil, attempts to fulfill the demands of his faithful Labrador, Dickens, and contemplates, as always, the nature of love."

Time to get in on this series before it's adapted for tv!

Scott Pilgrim 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Published by: Oni Press
Publication Date: June 10th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The penultimate Scott Pilgrim full-color hardcover edition is here! There are many questions in Scott Pilgrim's terrible little life. First of all, why did he have to turn twenty-four? Secondly, why do robots keep trying to kill him? And why is Sex Bob-omb falling apart? Why is Ramona acting so weird? And finally, why won't these brilliant and deadly Japanese twins leave him alone? Scott Pilgrim will find the answers to these questions... or die trying! Featuring exclusive bonus content and previously unpublished extras you won't find anywhere else in the Universe!"

Am I excited to have all the Scott Pilgrim comics in hardcover and full color? HECK YEAH! In fact, I've been waiting to have them all before doing a re-read. So here's to one step closer!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bliss House, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Grantchester, James Runcie, Josephine Tey, Laura Benedict, Nicola Upson, Scott Pilgrim, Shirley Jackson, Sidney Chambers, Susan Scarf Merrell, The Death of Lucy Kyte

"There's a reason why they're called the ROARING 20s--there was a flask in anyone's pocket and a song in everyone's heart. Nights were long. Hemlines were short. Jazz was quick, and wits were quicker. The Roaring 20s make for a great getaway, if you're so inclined to make the trip." - J.J. Murphy

J.J.'s Algonquin Roundtable books, besides being addictive reads and totally deserving of a themed month on my blog, where actually my inspiration for this third section of my Golden Summer. Because there is this trend now for authors, in the historic sense, like Dorothy Parker and Josephine Tey, to be crime solvers, not like in some weird twist that the author writing the book is also the crime solver because I think that would be more non-fiction then... or Lemony Snicket... but I digress. J.J.'s books have Dorothy Parker not just as a writer during the Golden Age of Crime Detection, though she didn't write in that genre, but doing the crime detection herself in the most wonderfully witty way. I'm so happy to welcome J.J. back and if I haven't already convinced you to read his books from all my promoting, what do I need to do? Throw a party with a bathtub full of booze? Because, just FYI, my house that I live in actually had a gin still in the basement during prohibition, so I think I could maybe get something going here...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker, Gin, Golden Summer, J.J. Murphy, Jazz, Josephine Tey, Lemony Snicket, Roaring 20s, The Algonquin Round Table

While by now you have heard from many authors and read my reviews to see that there are plenty of great books out there to appease the beast inside that needs mysteries set during their Golden Age, there is an interesting phenomenon that is occurring within this genre. What I am talking about is an author as the sleuth. Not the one writing the book, no, that is a bit too meta, but that famous authors of the twenties and later, not necessarily even in the detective genre, are now going about solving crimes. The first book I read in this interesting sub-genre was J.J. Murphy's Murder Your Darlings. In this book the witty writer, Dorothy Parker, goes about cracking wise and solving murders. Since then I have kept my eyes open, not just for another J.J. Murphy book, which I always do now, but other books of this ilk. I have stumbled upon both Joanna Challis and Nicola Upson. Challis' books are about a young Daphne Du Maurier, who definitely was of the mysterious writer vein, and Nicola Upson writes about that most famous of Golden Age mystery writers, Josephine Tey. While I'm sure there are more out there that I have yet to discover, I chose two of the authors to profile, sadly the first Tey mystery wasn't set till the thirties, so, like Tey herself, is on the tail end of the Golden Age, and was therefore excluded from this section, though I really recommend them. So, without further ado, I bring you the crime solving exploits of a young Daphne Du Maurier and Dorothy Parker.

And don't forget to check back often as I'll have guest posts from these authors, and don't forget to enter the giveaway. You want free books right?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Author as Sleuth, Daphne Du Maurier, Dorothy Parker, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, J.J. Murphy, Joanna Challis, Josephine Tey, Murder Your Darlings, Nicola Upson

The Man in the Queue (Inspector Alan Grant Book 1) by Josephine Tey
Published by: Touchstone
Publication Date: 1929
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Inspector Alan Grant has been given the infamous Queue case. A man with no identification was stabbed in a busy queue outside the Woffington Theatre as fans waited to see the final hurrah of Ray Marcable in the smash hit Didn't You Know? With just a knife and a handful of witnesses that didn't see anything, Inspector Grant is able to quickly build a case against the mysterious man he nicknames the Levantine, because of his swarthy appearance and the passionate and daring way the crime was committed. Yet what if all this evidence pointing at the unknown Levantine is just circumstantial? What if, while Grant builds a solid case against this one man, the killer walks free? Because even after hunting down the apparent killer through London and the Highlands, Grant still thinks that maybe, just maybe, there is a different interpretation of the evidence that he hasn't quite yet grasped.

Dear lord, Josephine Tey sure loved to avoid paragraph breaks, sheesh. Sometimes there would be pages upon pages of just dense, heavy text that I would slog through. This is easily the most overly written book I have read in recent memory which caused my experience with the book to be a very labored one. The writing style lent nothing to the story, unless a lead weight around your neck is a plus with books. Now, I'm not slamming writers who others might consider as overly written, like Erin Morgenstern and The Night Circus... but there's overwritten and then there's a rich tapestry of words that are evocative and make a world vibrant and alive. This is not Josephine Tey. I have a feeling that to Robert Barnard, the Tey scholar and writer I've never heard of that wrote this book's introduction which has more paragraph breaks then the book's first chapter, that "them be fighting words." Because apparently, to denigrate Tey is outre, but to pile on the harsh criticism to Agatha Christie is perfectly acceptable. Now I've only read one Tey and many Christie... but if this book is a testament to Tey, then we are through.

The aspect of this book that just baffled me is that it was a given that people in a queue would ignore each other and not be able to even slightly identify those around them after several hours in each others company. Is this a British thing that I just don't get despite my desire to be as British as can be while still being in Wisconsin? Because, let's put it this way; I have spent many an hour in a queue. I don't think I could even add it up, nor would I want to, because, let's put it this way, if I did, it would probably depress me to learn how much of my life has been spent waiting. From queues at conventions waiting for entrance and autographs, to queues at book signings, to just lining up for a movie, I have been in every kind of queue you could imagine, and you know what? In every instance I have talked to the people around me. I wasn't in an insular little bubble ignoring everyone and just playing on my phone, oh no. A chance comment from someone near me would spark a conversation, in fact the most recent that I remember clearly was when I went to see The Hobbit. The friend I was with, well, the conversation was lacking, so I took to talking to the picture of Martin Freeman on the movie poster, and I was lambasting him for the crap fest his tv show The Robinsons was, the people behind us spoke up saying how much they agreed on this fact and we got to talking about Martin Freeman and his mostly genius career (The Robinsons excluded).

At first I was thinking that maybe the people in this book's queue just didn't have anything in common... like one does at a convention or book signing, but then I thought, uh, no. These people are Ray Marcable fanatics (yes, I did audibly groan at her name)... of course they have a common link. So unless someone can come out and offer me 100% proof that Britain is not at all like America in it's queues then I'm calling Josephine Tey out as saying the crux of her book plays false. J'accuse! 

Though the superfluous writing combined with an illogical premise isn't what made this book fail me in every way, it's the fact that it was boring. Alan Grant bored me to tears. He just toddles through life looking nothing like a police officer and always being complimented on this. He sits in tubs and at fancy restaurants where he is fawned over while he pushes the case to the back of his mind, because not thinking about it too much helps him solve it. He goes to the race track, he goes fishing, he goes and resigns and we never hear from him again, I wish! As for the rest of the characters... no one is really painted in a bad light. They're all just people going about their lives. Boring dull people with boring dull lives. If you think about it, if there was a murder and you were accused, I'd bet only a handful of us would have an alibi, because, let's face it, our lives are rather dull and unvaried and go along as they always have. Therefore, by extension, in Tey's book, while no one really has an alibi, they are just as dull as we are on the whole. Who wants to read about people like us? A good book is an escape, not a dulled mirror of our day to day lives. Give me something to whet my appetite, make me want to read late into the night, not hope to misplace the book and never find it again.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alan Grant, Erin Morgenstern, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, Josephine Tey, Martin Freeman, The Hobbit, The Man in the Queue, The Night Circus, The Robinsons

Josephine Tey is one of the pseudonym's used by Scottish writer Elizabeth Mackintosh. While caring for her invalid father she took to writing. The name Josephine Tey comes from her mother's first name and her grandmother's surname. There is not much known about Tey, but that has just added to her mystique. Her most famous character is Inspector Alan Grant, whose solving of the murder of the Princes in the tower in The Daughter of Time led to a renewed interest in Richard III. In 1990 this book was chosen as the greatest mystery novel of all time.

Unlike her contemporaries, Tey never resorted to formulas, but "to tell different sorts of story, in different ways." Yet her success did lead to other authors having a fascination with her. Agatha Christie supposedly based her character Muriel Wills in Three Act Tragedy on Tey to skewer her. While, more lovingly, Nicola Upson is currently writing a series of mysteries were Josephine Tey is the detective, much in the vein of J.J. Murphy and Dorothy Parker and Joanna Challis and Daphne Du Maurier. This enduring love of Tey has made "her place in the pantheon of mystery writers... unassailable."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alan Grant, Daphne Du Maurier, Dorothy Parker, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, J.J. Murphy, Joanna Challis, Josephine Tey, Richard III, Scotland, The Daughter of Time, Three Act Tragedy

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: April 9th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig comes The Ashford Affair, a page-turning novel about two women in different eras, and on different continents, who are connected by one deeply buried secret.

As a lawyer in a large Manhattan firm, just shy of making partner, Clementine Evans has finally achieved almost everything she’s been working towards—but now she’s not sure it’s enough. Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addie’s ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything. . . .

Growing up at Ashford Park in the early twentieth century, Addie has never quite belonged. When her parents passed away, she was taken into the grand English house by her aristocratic aunt and uncle, and raised side-by-side with her beautiful and outgoing cousin, Bea. Though they are as different as night and day, Addie and Bea are closer than sisters, through relationships and challenges, and a war that changes the face of Europe irrevocably. But what happens when something finally comes along that can’t be shared? When the love of sisterhood is tested by a bond that’s even stronger?

From the inner circles of British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl.

Um... what this month is all about? Lauren's new stand alone novel, but with a tiny nod for those Pink Carnation fans out there!

The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah Ladd
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: April 9th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Amelia Barrett gave her word. Keeping it could cost her everything.

Darbury, England, 1814

Amelia Barrett, heiress to an estate nestled in the English moors, defies family expectations and promises to raise her dying friend’s baby. She'll risk everything to keep her word—even to the point of proposing to the child’s father—a sea captain she’s never met.

When the child vanishes with little more than an ominous ransom note hinting to her whereabouts, Amelia and Graham are driven to test the boundaries of their love for this little one.

Amelia’s detailed plans would normally see her through any trial, but now, desperate and shaken, she’s forced to examine her soul and face her one weakness: pride.

Graham’s strength and self-control have served him well and earned him much respect, but chasing perfection has kept him a prisoner of his own discipline. And away from the family he has sworn to love and protect.

Both must learn to accept God’s sovereignty and relinquish control so they can grasp the future He has for planned for them."

I'm rather intrigued by this book which is the first in a new series, Whispers on the Moors.

Midnight at Marble Arch by Anne Perry
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: April 9th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this superbly accomplished new Charlotte and Thomas Pitt adventure, Anne Perry takes us beneath the glittering surface of wealthy Victorian society into a nightmare world of fear and intimidation, where women are too often blamed for the violent attacks against them, and powerful men take what they want, leaving others to pay the price.

The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.

Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the front door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibits? And what can be done to avenge another terrible crime: the assault on Angeles Castelbranco, beloved teenage daughter of the Portuguese ambassador?

As an ordinary policeman, Pitt had once entered London’s grand houses through the kitchen door. Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes? The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international politics and finance to his own happy home, where his own teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers.

In this rich, emotionally charged masterpiece, Anne Perry exposes yet another ugly secret of Victoria’s proud empire. And in a courtroom battle of unparalleled brilliance, we thrill at the chance to witness a massive wrong righted."

I really need to get on the Anne Perry train, if just for the fact I can be guaranteed a new book quite frequently.

Fear in the Sunlight by Nicholas Upson
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: April 9th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nicola Upson blends biography and fiction, excitement and menace, and a touch of Alfred Hitchcock in Fear in the Sunlight, a mystery starring real-life writer Josephine Tey.

Summer, 1936: Josephine Tey joins her friends in the resort village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine’s novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Alfred Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained—and expose their deepest fears. But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood’s leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing—and no one—is quite what it seems.

Based in part on the life of Josephine Tey—one of the most popular, best-loved crime writers of the Golden Age, Nicola Upson’s Fear in the Sunlight features legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock as a prominent character—and features the classic suspense and psychological tension that fans of Hitchcock films love."

In the ever growing trend of authors solving mysteries, the newest Josephine Tey crime solving novel is here... and it has Alfred Hitchcock! Can't resist that!

Miss Julia Stirs up Trouble by Ann B. Ross
Published by: Viking Adult
Publication Date: April 9th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With a crisp bite in the air, Miss Julia is enjoying a well-earned respite by her new fireplace. But autumn leaves aren’t the only things falling: James, Hazel Marie’s housekeeper, has had a nasty tumble down some stairs. How can Hazel Marie feed and take care of him—not to mention a husband and two babies—when she barely knows how to boil water?

Miss Julia jumps in to help by convincing the ladies of Abbotsville to put on their aprons and give cooking lessons. With success so close she can taste it, Miss Julia isn’t thrilled when an unexpected visitor shows up. Brother Vern Puckett, Hazel Marie’s no-good uncle, started life on the wrong foot and stayed there. What could he possibly want from his frazzled niece this time?

With a delightful helping of madcap antics, Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble is a perfect next course in this charming series."

Another one for my mother, one of her favorite series!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ann B. Ross, Anne Perry, Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, Hitchcock, Josephine Tey, Lauren Willig, Miss Julia, Nicholas Upson, Pink Carnation, Regency, Sarah Ladd, The Ashford Affair, The Heiress of Winterwood

The Magician King by Lev Grossman
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The Magicians was praised as a triumph by readers and critics of both mainstream and fantasy literature. Now Grossman takes us back to Fillory, where the Brakebills graduates have fled the sorrows of the mundane world, only to face terrifying new challenges.

Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent's house in Chesterton, Massachusetts. And only the black, twisted magic that Julia learned on the streets can save them.

The Magician King is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic, an epic quest for the Harry Potter generation. It also introduces a powerful new voice, that of Julia, whose angry genius is thrilling. Once again Grossman proves that he is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis, and the cutting edge of literary fantasy."

Everybody keeps telling me how awesome the first book, The Magicians was... perhaps now is the time to see.

Ingenue by Jillian Larkin
Published by: Delacorte
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Bobbed hair. Short skirts. Cool jazz. Dark speakeasy. Anything goes. Meet the flappers, Gloria, Clara, Lorraine . . . and the rich young boys who love and loathe them."

I have been desperately craving some 1920s... I think this might hit the spot.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Published by: Ecco
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"For outré performance artists, Caleb and Camille Fang, everything in life is secondary to art, including their children. Annie and Buster (popularly known as Child A. and Child B.) are the unwilling stars of their parents’ chaotically subversive work. Art is truly a family affair for the Fangs. Years later, their lives in disarray, Annie and Buster reluctantly return home in search of sanctuary—only to be caught up in one last performance. The Family Fang sparkles with Kevin Wilson’s inventive dialogue and wonderfully rendered set-pieces that capture the surreal charm of the Fang’s most notable work. With this brilliant novel, the family Fang is destined to join the families Tenenbaum and Bluth as paragons of high dysfunction."

As soon as I read the discription, before seeing other people's comparisons, I instantly thought, The Royal Tennenbaums. The correlation alone means I'll pick it up, damn I love that movie.

Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Format: Paperback, 496 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"They were the most horrific crimes of a new century: the murders of newborn innocents for which two British women were hanged at Holloway Prison in1903. Decades later, mystery writer Josephine Tey has decided to write a novel based on Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious “Finchley baby farmers,” unaware that her research will entangle her in the desperate hunt for a modern-day killer.

A young seamstress—an ex-convict determined to reform—has been found brutally slain in the studio of Tey’s friends, the Motley sisters, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala. Despite initial appearances, Inspector Archie Penrose is not convinced this murder is the result of a long-standing domestic feud—and a horrific accident involving a second young woman soon after supports his convictions. Now he and his friend Josephine must unmask a sadistic killer before more blood flows—as the repercussions of unthinkable crimes of the past reach out to destroy those left behind long after justice has been served."

I was recently recommended this mystery series surrounding the mystery writer Josephine Tey by a very reliable source, the writer Michael Norman. I recently picked up the first and am glad to see that I have more to look forward to.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ingenue, Jillian Larkin, Josephine Tey, Kevin Wilson, Lev Grossman, Michael Norman, Nicola Upson, The Family Fang, The Magician King, The Royal Tennenbaums, Two for Sorrow