strange and random happenstance

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 960 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Sir Colin Edensor's son Will is trapped in a cult. To the public the "church" has a very charitable face, but to those few who have escaped, the Universal Humanitarian Church is pure evil and they live in fear of the day The Drowned Prophet will come to them. Starvation, indoctrination, sexual abuse, child abuse, and forced labor, are just some of the tortures inflicted on the congregation. Or at least those sequestered to their farm in Norfolk, Chapman Farm, which is nothing more nor less than a prison. And Sir Colin doesn't know how to get his son out. The last family who attempted this resulted in a well publicized suicide. Sir Colin doesn't even know if they are passing on the letters he's written to Will. Does Will even know his mother has died? He hired another detective agency who botched it up royally. He also had the help of an apostate on the outside, one Kevin Pirbright, who has since tragically been killed. Sir Colin will do anything to find out his son's well-being and, if possible, aid in his escape. This is the challenge he brings to Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Both want to take on the case. Strike once he learns that Chapman Farm is the remnants of Forgeman Farm which became famous as the Aylmerton Community, known for drugs and sexual abuse. A commune that Strike's mom Leda dragged him and Lucy to for some of the worst months of his childhood. And where he only recently finds out his sister was sexually assaulted. Robin views it as a chance to go deep undercover and save a lost soul. But Robin's desire to always risk her safety and sanity might have finally met its match with the charismatic Jonathan Wace, AKA Papa J, who runs the church with his wife Mazu Wace, and is built around their dead daughter, Daiyu, who is The Drowned Prophet. Seeing as one of the other prophet's of the church is the man who molested Lucy, you can tell the kind of people who are in power. Once inside the community, Robin is quickly malnourished and exhausted, trying to fed off unwanted sexual advances, and trying to find some way to communicate with Will. But the church thrives on total control. You can't speak freely. You are silenced and broken. Robin can analytically see this, but how soon until she's too far gone to help Will let alone herself? And can Strike save her? The UHC wants to hold onto their secrets and they will take them to the grave if they have to.

I want to state at the beginning of this review that I unequivocally do not stand for anything that the author does. I am not like many who read this series and bury their head in the sand with regard to her. You will not hear me declaiming that it's another stellar mystery in this series. Because I just can't. She needs to be called out for the despicable human being that she is. She's a TERF. She fully took off her mask with Troubled Blood, which besides showing what a horrible human being she is was just a badly written book. I let her words and her work speak for her and I have found her wanting. In many regards. But there's a part of me that's just in too deep. It's like, I can't not read the newest adventure of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. And it's not just for the characters, it's also because I feel a need to know. And what I need to know is what is she ranting on about now and is she able to actually fashion a book out of her prejudices. I mean, I don't think I would have believed that she wrote over a thousand pages that was nothing more than her showing her deep-seated persecution complex unless I had read The Ink Black Heart. As for The Running Grave? I heard it was about religion, and I was like, oh, let's see just how batshit this can get. The answer is very. But there was also a big helping of glee. You see, she's no longer just being homophobic and ableist and using her position of power to punch down, which she is still doing if you were wondering. Oh no. She's now going after bigger fish as well. She's taking on Scientology and MAGA and Doctor Oz and I am here for it! Because these people are the audience she has left and she just shits all over them. It was glorious, it was cathartic, and I just can't wait for the fallout. Because with Scientology for sure, there shall be fallout. She thinks she's above it all. She thinks she can silence all those who hate her for her hate by suing them, well, let's see what happens when she's no longer shitting on minorities. Let's see how she handles those who play in her tainted pool. As for the mystery? It's actually her strongest since Lethal White, though with a strong helping of trauma and cultural appropriation running rife in the cult. And as for the liberal use of the I Ching, there's only one writer allowed to go there, and that's Philip K. Dick, thank you very much.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cormoran Strike, Cult, I Ching, J.K. Rowling, Lethal White, Murder Most Foul, Papa J, Philip K. Dick, Robert Galbraith, Robin Ellacott, Scientology, TERF, The Ink Black Heart, The Running Grave, Troubled Blood

The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 656 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, opens another door to a new fantasy series set in the dazzling world of Shades of Magic.

Prepare for tangled schemes and perilous adventures with friends old and new in The Fragile Threads of Power.

Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory - Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years - and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland's absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own - but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown it instead.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.

These two royals from very different empires now face very similar struggles: how to keep their crowns - and their own heads.

Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she's the only one who can bring them together - or unravel it all."

While there's a part of me beyond excited for this book there's a bigger part of me that despises this new cover design. I literally just can not.

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Be gay, solve crime, take naps - A witty and quirky fantasy murder mystery in a folkloric world of witches, faeires, vampires, trolls and ghosts, for fans of Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey and T. J. Klune's Under the Whispering Door.

A magical serial killer is stalking the Occult town of Wrackton. Hypnotic whistling causes victims to chew their own tongues off, leading to the killer being dubbed the Whistler (original, right?)

Enter the Undetectables, a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume (don't ask.) They are hired to investigate the murders, but with their only case so far left unsolved, will they be up to the task?

Mallory, the forensic science expert, is struggling with pain and fatigue from her recently diagnosed fibromyalgia. Cornelia is suddenly stirring all sorts of feelings in Mallory. Diana is hitting up all her ex-girlfriends for information. And not forgetting ghostly Theodore: deceased, dramatic, and also the agency's first - unsolved - murder case.

With bodies stacking up and the case leading them to mysteries at the very heart of magical society, can the Undetectables find the Whistler before they become the killer's next victims?"

I am beyond here for the ghost in a cat costume!

What Became of Magic by Paige Crutcher
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Paige Crutcher, the author of The Orphan Witch and The Lost Witch, comes a new tale about a witch, a book of magic, and a beguiling and powerful creature whom she must free, even if it puts her life and soul at stake.

Aline Weir, a witch who can talk to ghosts, has kept her talents hidden ever since a disastrous middle school slumber party, choosing to be invisible and use her powers in secret to help lost souls reunite with the keys to send them home. All the while, she finds solace in a bookstore and the three mysterious women who run it....until Aline discovers the book of Mischief, and her powers are enhanced.

Living a solitary life until the age of thirty, Aline's life takes an unexpected turn when the wrong (or perhaps right) person witnesses her using her powers and she is invited to a town that doesn't exist on any map.

Arriving in Matchstick, Aline learns of a lost magic that desperately needs to be found and only her unique powers can do it. But what she's not told is that Magic is a person. One that is dangerous and seductive and has been waiting for a witch with a power like hers for centuries."

I mean, aren't all middle school slumber parties disastrous? 

The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ava Morgyn's The Witches of Bone Hill is a spellbinding, romantic novel about family secrets and two young women who discover they're Nordic witches.

Cordelia Bone's meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts. When her older, carefree sister, Eustace - a cannabis grower in Boulder - calls to inform her that the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.

But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt's aging attorney, who insists they retain and inhabit the house but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.

As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that's been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill."

I'd totally take a large Victorian mansion, cursed or not.

The Grimmer by Naben Ruthnum
Published by: ECW Press
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The small-town mysteries of John Bellairs are made modern with a dash of Stranger Things in this spine-tingling supernatural horror-thriller.

After his father returns from treatment for addiction, highschooler Vish - lover of metal music and literature - is uncertain what the future holds. It doesn't help that everyone seems to know about the family's troubles, and they stand out doubly as one of the only brown families in town. When Vish is mistaken for a relative of the weird local bookseller and attacked by an unsettling pale man who seems to be decaying, he is pulled into the world of the occult, where witches live in television sets, undead creatures can burn with a touch, and magic is mathematical. Vish must work with the bookstore owner and his mysterious teenage employee, Gisela, to stop an interdimensional invasion that would destroy their peaceful town.

Bringing together scares, suspense, and body horror, The Grimmer is award-winning author Naben Ruthnum's first foray into the young adult genre. This gripping ride through the supernatural is loaded with vivid characters, frightening imagery, and astonishing twists, while tackling complex issues such as grief, racism, and addiction."

Um, how is a book made modern with a dash of a show set in the eighties? 

Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons
Published by: Tor Teen
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"AT DAWN HE'LL BE GONE AND YOU'LL BE HERE FOREVER.

Kristen Simmons's masterful breakout horror novel that's "Jumanji but Japanese-inspired" (Kendare Blake) about estranged friends playing a deadly game in a nightmarish folkloric underworld.

Four years ago, five kids started a game. Not all of them survived.

Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors - Owen, Madeline, Emerson, and Dax - have reunited for one strange and terrible reason: they've been summoned by the ghost of Ian, the friend they left for dead.

Together they return to the place where their friendship ended with one goal: find Ian and bring him home. So they restart the deadly game they never finished - an innocent card-matching challenge called Meido. A game without instructions.

As soon as they begin, they're dragged out of their reality and into an eerie hellscape of Japanese underworlds, more horrifying than even the darkest folktales that Owen's grandmother told him. There, they meet Shinigami, an old wise woman who explains the rules:

They have one night to complete seven challenges or they'll all be stuck in this world forever.

Once inseparable, the survivors now can't stand each other, but the challenges demand they work together, think quickly, and make sacrifices - blood, clothes, secrets, memories, and worse.

And once again, not everyone will make it out alive."

Because if Jumanji wasn't traumatizing enough...

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 640 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A small town is transformed when seven strange trees begin bearing magical apples in this masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.

It's autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it's nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing - and become darker.

This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples...and what's the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?

Even if something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraordinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town.

But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. It's harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown."

I mean, I totally wouldn't touch those apples would you?

Murder at the Merton Library by Andrea Penrose
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A perplexing murder in a renowned Oxford University library and a suspicious fire at a famous inventor's London laboratory set Wrexford and Lady Charlotte on two separate investigations in this masterfully plotted, atmospheric Regency-set mystery from USA Today bestselling author Andrea Penrose.

Responding to an urgent plea from a troubled family friend, the Earl of Wrexford journeys to Oxford only to find the reclusive university librarian has been murdered and a rare manuscript has gone missing. The only clue is that someone overheard an argument in which Wrexford's name was mentioned.

At the same time, Charlotte - working under her pen name, A. J. Quill - must determine whether a laboratory fire was arson and if it's connected to the race between competing consortiums to build a new type of ship - one that can cross the ocean powered by steam rather than sails - with the potential to revolutionize military power and world commerce. That the race involves new innovations in finance and entrepreneurship only adds to the high stakes - especially as their good friend Kit Sheffield may be an investor in one of the competitors.

As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear - unless they can tie the loose threads together before it's too late..."

I've been feeling the need for an Andrea Penrose binge and I think now is the perfect time.

Murder by Invitation Only by Colleen Cambridge
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this engaging historical mystery, Agatha Christie's ever-capable housekeeper, Phyllida Bright, not only keeps the celebrated author's English country home in tip-top shape, she excels as an amateur sleuth. But when a murder-themed game goes awry, can she outfox the guilty party?

"A murder will occur tonight at Beecham House..." Who could resist such a compelling invitation? Of course, the murder in question purports to be a party game, and Phyllida looks forward to using some of the deductive skills she has acquired thanks to her employer, Mrs. Agatha, who is unable to attend in person.

The hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Wokesley, are new to the area, and Phyllida gladly offers their own overwhelmed housekeeper some guidance while events get underway. Family friends have been enlisted to play the suspects, and Mr. Wokesley excels in his role of dead body. Unfortunately, when the game's solution is about to be unveiled, the participants discover that life has imitated art. Mr. Wokesley really is dead!

In the absence of Inspector Cork, Phyllida takes temporary charge of the investigation, guiding the local constable through interviews with the Murder Game actors. At first, there seems no motive to want Mr. Wokesley dead...but then Phyllida begins to connect each of the suspects with the roles they played and the motives assigned to them. It soon becomes clear that everyone had a reason to murder their host - both in the game and in real life. Before long, Phyllida is embroiled in a fiendishly puzzling case, with a killer who refuses to play by the rules..."

A must buy author doing a very Clue meets Agatha Christie mystery? Hells yes.

Murder by Invitation by Verity Bright
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 317 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Lady Swift has been cordially invited to a huge royal celebration in Little Buckford to toast the King’s birthday...but wait, is that a body in the village hall?

Lady Eleanor Swift and her loyal butler Clifford are busy lending a hand with preparations for the big day. The grand dining room at Henley Hall is overflowing with home-sewn flags, paint and royal rosettes. Even Gladstone the bulldog and his new friend Tomkins the ginger cat are invited!

But just days before the event Mr Prestwick-Peterson, the chairman of the celebrations committee, is found dead in the village hall: strangled with handmade red, white and royal blue bunting.

With the village hall in total disarray and a key part of the decorations missing, Eleanor wonders if someone dastardly is sabotaging the King's birthday celebrations? Teaming up with her handsome beau Detective Hugh Seldon to question the local butcher, baker, and pub landlord it becomes clear that the meddlesome busybody Mr Prestwick-Peterson was not universally liked in charming Little Buckford. Indeed, the only mystery is why he wasn't murdered before...

Searching Mr Prestwick-Peterson's pristinely organised rooms, Eleanor is surprised to find a faded photograph of a beautiful young woman hidden within the pages of a novel. Could this be the key to untangling this very village murder? And can Eleanor catch the killer before the party is over for her, too?"

In a small British town bunting is THE MOST British way to die.

Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"What in the bleu blazes is happening in Yarrow Glen now?

Cheesemongers from across the Northwest have come to the Sonoma Valley for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. As owner of the local cheese shop, Curds and Whey, Willa Bauer loves it. The event showcases custom cheese creations, and it's the perfect time to gather with old colleagues to honor her former boss, the late and grate cheese legend, Max Dumas. He was famous for journeying into the wild bleu yonder to where he aged his award-winning custom Church Bleu. Only Max knew the recipe and location to his beloved cheese, and many are eager to have these revealed at his will reading.

But instead of naming someone to inherit his cheese and its secrets, Max stuns everyone with one cryptic clue. When a fellow cheesemonger dies under mysterious circumstances - the woman they all thought would get the secrets to Max's prized possession - everyone falls under suspicion. Willa adores Church Bleu as much as the next cheese connoisseur, but it's not to die for. Is a killer trying to get away with murder...and the cheese?"

Yeah, I'm a sucker for cheese based crimes...

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 960 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the seventh installment in the "outrageously entertaining" Strike series, Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult. (Financial Times)

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her...

Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series."

Yep, she's taking on religion now. This won't end well. Why am I still reading these?

Cunk on Everything by Philomena Cunk
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the creator and star of the "deeply funny, unexpectedly informative" (The Daily Beast) Netflix mockumentary Cunk on Earth, a helpful guide covering every single topic in the known universe, from Adam and Eve to Top Gun.

Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that changes the world. The Origin of Species. War and Peace. 1984. And now, Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena, by Philomena Cunk.

Philomena Cunk is one of the greatest thinkers of the 21st century, and in Cunk on Everything she turns her attention to our biggest issue: why are there so many books? Wouldn't it be better if there was just one? This is that book - an encyclopedia of all human knowledge, delving into not only life's greatest mysteries but our most important political figures and cultural touchstones.

Read it, and you'll never have to read another book again."

Seriously, do yourself a favor and delve into the world of Philomena Cunk.

What About Men? by Caitlin Moran
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With her signature candor and wit, New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Moran attempts to answer society's weirdly unasked question: What About Men?

Like anyone who discusses the problems of girls and women in public, Caitlin Moran has often been confronted with the question: "But what about men?" And at first, tbh, she dgaf. Boys, and men, are fine, right? Feminism doesn't need to worry about them.

However, around the time she heard an angry young man saying he was "boycotting" International Women's Day because "It's easier to be a woman than a man these days," she started to wonder: are unhappy boys, and men, also making unhappy women? The statistics on male misery are grim: boys are falling behind in school, are at greater risk of depression, greater risk of suicide, and, most pertinently, are increasingly at risk from online misogynist radicalization. Will the Sixth Wave of feminism need to fix the men, if it wants to fix the women?

Moran began to investigate - talking to her husband, close male friends, and her daughters' friends: bringing up very difficult and candid topics, and receiving vulnerable and honest responses. So: what about men? Why do they only go to the doctor if their partner makes them? Why do they never discuss their penises with each other - but make endless jokes about their balls? What is porn doing for young men? Is sexual strangling a good hobby for young people to have? Are men ever allowed to be sad? Are they ever allowed to lose? Have Men's Rights Activists confused "power" with "empowerment"? Are Mid-Life Crises actually quite cool? And what's the deal with Jordan Peterson's lobster?

In this thoughtful, warm, provocative book, Moran opens a genuinely new debate about how to reboot masculinity for the twenty-first century, so that "straight white man" doesn't automatically mean bad news - but also uses the opportunity to make a lot of jokes about testicles, and trousers. Because if men have neither learned to mine their deepest anxieties about masculinity for comedy, nor answered the question "What About Men?," then it's up to a busy woman to do it."

Eh, I kind of couldn't care less about rebooting men, it sounds like a lot of work.

The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O'Keefe
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dying planets, dangerous conspiracies, and secret romance abound in the second installment of the Devoured Worlds trilogy by award-winning author Megan E. O'Keefe.

Naira and Tarquin have escaped vicious counter-revolutionaries, misprinted monsters, and the pull of a dying planet. Now, bound together to find the truth behind the blight that has been killing habitable planets, they need to hunt out the Mercator family secrets. But, when the head of Mercator disappears, taking the universe's remaining supply of starship fuel with him, chaos breaks loose between the ruling families. Naira's revolution must be put aside for the sake of humanity's immediate survival."

Romance and survival!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrea Penrose, Caitlin Moran, Chuck Wendig, Colleen Cambridge, Korina Moss, Kristen Simmons, Megan E. O'Keefe, Naben Ruthnum, Paige Crutcher, Philomena Cunk, Robert Galbraith, V.E. Schwab, Verity Bright

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 170 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola's encounters with Sherlock's right-hand-man, Dr. Watson, have been brief. Yet in that time she knew she was in the presence of an extraordinary man and that should anything ever happen to him she would do whatever was in her power to help. The occasion has arisen sooner than she ever thought possible as Dr. Watson has gone missing. Yes, helping find Dr. Watson might, just might, expose herself to her brothers, and result in her being hauled off to the nearest reform school with constricting corsets, but for Dr. Watson the risk is worth it. Yet she must adopt a disguise her brothers would never suspect if she is going to pay a call on Dr. Watson's wife, Mary. She decides she will appear as the very last thing her brothers would suspect, a beautiful young woman in the height of fashion. When she appears on the Watson's doorstep as Viola Everseau she is extremely confident the beauty she has become could be in the same room as her brothers and she wouldn't be found out. A theory that will be tested and proved correct before she leaves Mary. Yet it's what she finds at the Watson's that doesn't just unnerve her but makes her fear for Dr. Watson. The cops may say what they will about him getting away from it all for a few days, but Sherlock, Mary, and Enola know better and for Enola, the flowers speak volumes. Because among all the flowers and cards wishing Mary well during the disappearance of her husband there is one bouquet that stands out. It is a thing of beauty which belies the evil within. Each and every flower oozes venom and hatred. How could Sherlock not know the language of flowers? How could he miss this clue? Whomever has Dr. Watson, they want him to suffer and die. Therefore she must follow the flowers. Taking a room across the road from the Watson's home she sets up a watch. The flowers aren't a one time occurrence and therefore that is the evildoers weakness. Time and patience are what is needed, something that is in short supply when Dr. Waton's life might be in constant danger. But Enola knows one thing, this isn't about besting her brother, though that would be sweet, this is about Mary and Dr. Waton being reunited. That is all that matters, reunion with a lost loved one. Something Enola longs for herself.

This mystery galvanized me. The second Enola saw that evil bouquet a shiver ran up my spine. To lovingly grow and arrange such flowers with such an evil intent signals the sign of true villainy. In other words, this mystery was totally my jam. What's more I love that it reinforced how Enola is able to see what Sherlock doesn't. He would view flowers as "beneath him" because they are decoration and nothing more than something to do with women, a species he doesn't understand. When in fact those flowers are the whole essence of the case! Yes, it's a bit niche and Victorian, what with Enola and her mother communicating using this code, but Sherlock's bafflement as to what their code is is exactly why Sherlock has been at a loss to find either his mother or his sister and therefore makes it all the more important. This series has really made me think on how masculine the original Sherlock Holmes series is. That is why when the show Sherlock came about it made sense to call Irene Adler "The Woman" because in the canon of Sherlock Holmes she is in essence the only woman that matters. Dr. Watson's wife actually dies and he gets remarried and it's barely mentioned because women literally don't matter in this world they inhabit. Thus the idea of a prying, nosy, clever, and conscientious little sister being foisted on Sherlock and Mycroft is such a wonderful conceit. It's like literally the last thing they could possibly handle and handle it they must. One thing which I'm still not sure if it was handled right or wrong was the fact that the villain was a cross-dresser. Or as Sherlock says, suffers from "George Sandism," in reference to the French novelist who scandalously wore male clothing. While I've mentioned that this is a common mystery trope it's also one of the things that got Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood in hot water. Of course the hate pouring off the pages of Troubled Blood is the exact opposite as here. This was handled delicately, but at the same time I was slightly troubled by the connection of mental instability and clothing choice.... It's a tricky subject and is something that merits discussion, or, at the very least, acknowledging that we have to do better.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Dr. Watson, Enola Holmes, George Sandism, Irene Adler, Robert Galbraith, Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, The Language of Flowers, Troubled Blood, Victorian, Women

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 944 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are presented with an intriguing case. Margot Bamborough disappeared in 1974. She was never found. Forty years later her daughter Anna just wants answers. She hires Cormoran and Robin to investigate the disappearance. If they turn up nothing within a year Anna has promised her wife that she will accept that she will never know what happened to her mother and move on with her life. The reason Anna reached out to Cormoran in particular is that him being a "celebrity" private investigator he might be able to interview the prime suspect in Margot's disappearance, Dennis Creed. Dennis Creed, known my the sobriquet The Essex Butcher, abducted, imprisoned, raped, and murdered at least seven women between 1968 and 1976. Margot's disappearance falling during his active years before his subsequent arrest and imprisonment in Broadmoor has always made him a person of interest. But he doesn't do interviews and he definitely doesn't answer questions. That might change if the person talking to him were famous. Creed loves publicity. But getting clearance to see Creed is going to take a while so Cormoran and Robin start by tracking down every single person directly and tangentially connected to the disappearance. This takes time as it's been over forty years. They also find leads that the cops missed, such as a connection to organized crime. But there are only so many times you can poor over the pages of The Demon of Paradise Park before you have to resort to sheer luck that a new clue will land in your lap. What's more is that Cormoran and Robin's personal lives are more out of control than ever before. Cormoran is often having to hare off to Cornwall at a moment's notice because his Aunt Joan, the woman who was more a mother to him than his own mother, is dying of Cancer. And as for his ex Charlotte, if she has her way she will really be out of his life for good this time. As for Robin, what should have been a fairly straightforward divorce from Matthew, seeing as he cheated on her, is turning into a nightmare. She wants to move on, get her money from the sale of their home, find a new signature scent, and start fresh. Will the two investigators find closure for themselves and their client or will they always be left wondering what went wrong?

When the initial buzz quickly rose to a clamor for Troubled Blood and it looked like J.K. Rowling was going all in on being a TERF I was willing to withhold my judgement until I had read the book. I fully admit she's a horrible human being but perhaps that didn't translate to her writing. Perhaps? Ever since I was young and first learned about Lewis Carroll I have been able, to an extent, to separate a book I love from the author. Of course it helps that in his case he's not profiting off my purchases. So I approached Troubled Blood with an open mind and quickly saw that all the reviews I've read have gotten it wrong. Yes, this book is transphobic. Yet the transphobia in this instance is a common murder mystery trope that needs to be retired wherein to lure in female victims a male will dress as a female so they feel safe until the realize they're not. Far more troubling to me was the homophobia, sexism, sexual harassment, and exploitation of the mentally handicapped. But again, while the way these topics were handled in the book physically repulsed me this isn't what we need to be talking about when we talk about this book. Because there's no way calling this book out on these atrocities will actually make J.K. Rowling sit up and take notice. She is unrepentant in her hate. So while yes, this book needs to be called out, she won't listen and just say it's part of "cancel culture." Therefore I want to change the narrative. This book isn't bad because of the deplorable author spewing her hate, it's just a badly written book and everything else is just extra shit piled on top. I have this feeling that when this book arrived at her publishers they realized she had finally gone all in on being a deplorable and no editor touched this book. They didn't want to wade into the cesspit that is everything about this book. The plot is boring. There is no driving force what with the case being a cold case. There is no jeopardy. Months go by between any developments and the plot just plods along. Also, why is Robin so obsessed with finding a new "signature scent?" I get that she's trying to leave her life with Matthew behind, but she's a PI, she's tailing people all the time, don't you think that a PI shouldn't announce their presence with a whiff of perfume? For an author and series I loved it took me over a month to force my way to the meandering finish. So please, hate on this book not just for the hate but for the bad writing, it's deserving of both.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cold Case, Cormoran Strike, Dennis Creed, Deplorable, Hate, Homophobia, J.K. Rowling, Murder Most Foul, Robert Galbraith, Robin Ellacott, Serial Killer, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, TERF, Transphobia, Troubled Blood

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: June 17th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Leonora Quine's husband Owen is missing. He was once a literary success story, but not anymore. His latest novel, Bombyx Mori, which slanders those he holds responsible for his fall from grace has been leaked. He could be in hiding, worrying about the repercussions of having his protagonist eaten alive by the cruel caricatures of his colleagues. All his wife knows is that she needs Owen back to help with their developmentally disabled child. So she turns to Cormoran Strike, whose detective agency is on firmer footing since the infamous Lula Landry case. Strike thinks that one of the seven people depicted in the book is sure to know something. And when Cormoran finds Quine's body strung up in an abandoned house, pulled apart and doused in acid, just like a scene in his leaked manuscript, those seven people all become murder suspects because of Quine's slander. There's Owen's wife, Lenora, then there's his lover, Kathryn Kent, and her protégée, Pippa Midgley, his agent, Elizabeth Tassel, his editor, Jerry Waldegrave, his publisher, Daniel Chard, and his rival, Michael Fancourt. Cormoran meets with each and every one of these people, often over drawn out meals, and they all point the finger at each other. The truth is each and every one of them has a reason for wanting Quine dead. But the police are convinced it's Leonora. Cormoran must get his client cleared and so he starts to narrow in on Fancourt. Fancourt's first wife committed suicide after her book was lambasted by a cruel parody. Fancourt has always believed Quine was the author of that parody. But what if Quine wasn't? What if Quine didn't even write Bombyx Mori? Yes, that is the title of the book he was working on, but once Kathryn and Pippa get their hands on the leaked manuscript they notice major differences to the work in progress that Quine was showing them. Could one person be behind both attacks on this literary group? And if so, will they strike again if they think they are in danger or simply frame someone else to take the fall?

I will admit, it has taken me awhile to warm to Rowling's new series. While there is oddly a similarity between Harry and Cormoran, both being people thrust into the limelight who don't want to be there, this series is almost all about character and doesn't have the action of constantly avoiding death time and time again. It's not even about the mystery, it's about the characters. Which leads to the book occasionally dragging. Rowling is in no hurry to wrap things up. I could say she did this on purpose because this is probably a more realistic PI story because it takes time to get around to all the clues and to get everyone interviewed. But I think she was just enjoying herself with this scathing roman a clef that she didn't really think too much about finally revealing the killer. Because this is an insiders look at the publishing world and all that entails. It entails a lot of meals if you were wondering. And backstabbing. And backbiting. And general dislike of everyone else. You eventually get to the point where you're wondering if Rowling is using this as some kind of therapy to vent all her frustrations on the would in which she has become the darling. Perhaps she's even wondering what will happen when she falls from grace? Seeing as the book within the book is libelous slander against other writers I can't help but wonder if all these people in Quine's orbit are actually based on real people in Rowling's. Could she be using a book about using a book to exact revenge to exact her own revenge? We will probably never know. But that insular little literary world while interesting, up to a point, is ultimately the downfall of the book reaching perfection. It's too insular without explanation. So Strike, and therefore the reader, are just left scratching their heads instead of coming to any sort of appreciation. Perhaps the next book is when she'll hit her stride? And hopefully kill Robin's fiance Matthew.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Authors, Bombyx Mori, Cormoran Strike, J.K. Rowling, Literary World, Lula Landry, Meals, Murder Most Foul, Owen Quine, Parody, Revenge, Robert Galbraith, Roman A Clef, Slander, The Silkworm

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds."

How long have a been waiting for a new Susanna Clarke book? Since five minutes after I first read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, AKA sixteen years! Kids who were born then can drive now!

Secret Legacy by Carissa Andrews
Published by: Author Revolution LLC
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Kindle, 289 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nestled in the woods of Windhaven, Blackwood Manor waits to unleash a dark and deadly legacy...

When Autumn Blackwood shows up at Windhaven Academy for the Witching Stick Orientation, she hopes to find out what dormant powers she could possibly possess to have been accepted to the elite supernatural school. Instead, the academy is in chaos as everyone frantically hunts for two missing girls.

But as school begins with Autumn no closer to figuring out her powers, strange occurrences start to follow her everywhere. Even at home, Blackwood Manor keeps many secrets, and Autumn can’t escape its haunting past.

New friends urge her to learn more about her family’s history in order to unlock her powers and make sense of what’s happening at Blackwood Manor, but Autumn’s not so sure. Once an accident brings Autumn face-to-face with death, however, she realizes her gifts are tied to a legacy that can either save or doom them all...

Fans of Kelley Armstrong, Joe Hill, and Jennifer Armentrout will love The Windhaven Witches!"

Fall is all about the witches for me!

The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin
Published by: Hodder
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The year is 1831. Down murky alleyways, acts of unspeakable wickedness are taking place and London's vulnerable poor are disappearing from the streets. Out of these shadows comes Hester White, a bright young woman who is desperate to escape these slums by any means possible.

When a chance encounter thrusts Hester into the beguiling world of the aristocratic Brock family, she leaps at the chance to improve her station in life. But whispers from her past slowly begin to poison her new existence, and lure her into the most sinister of investigations. As she finds herself dragged into the blackest heart of the city, little does she know that something more depraved than she could ever imagine is lurking..."

Victorian girls with murky pasts are my milieu! 

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp comes a shocking new thriller about a group of friends tied together by a game and the deadly weekend that tears them apart.

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.

Are you ready to play?"

I'm ready to play!

Horrid by Katrina Leno
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of You Must Not Miss comes a haunting contemporary horror novel that explores themes of mental illness, rage, and grief, twisted with spine-chilling elements of Stephen King and Agatha Christie.

Following her father's death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor's doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone...and more tormented.

As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident "bad seed," struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane's mom also seems to be spiraling with the return of her childhood home, but she won't reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the "storage room" her mom has kept locked isn't for storage at all - it's a little girl's bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears...

Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more...horrid?"

Please be something more horrid!

The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The story continues in The Forgotten Kingdom, the second book in the epic Lost Queen trilogy, already hailed as “Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, author of Things We Say in the Dark) and “The Mists of Avalon for a new generation” (Linnea Hartsuyker, author of The Golden Wolf).

AD 573. Imprisoned in her chamber, Languoreth awaits news in torment. Her husband and son have ridden off to wage war against her brother, Lailoken. She doesn’t yet know that her young daughter, Angharad, who was training with Lailoken to become a Wisdom Keeper, has been lost in the chaos. As one of the bloodiest battles of early medieval Scottish history scatters its survivors to the wind, Lailoken and his men must flee to exile in the mountains of the Lowlands, while nine-year-old Angharad must summon all Lailoken has taught her and follow her own destiny through the mysterious, mystical land of the Picts.

In the aftermath of the battle, old political alliances unravel, opening the way for the ambitious adherents of the new religion: Christianity. Lailoken is half-mad with battle sickness, and Languoreth must hide her allegiance to the Old Way to survive her marriage to the next Christian king of Strathclyde. Worst yet, the new King of the Angles is bent on expanding his kingdom at any cost. Now the exiled Lailoken, with the help of a young warrior named Artur, may be the only man who can bring the Christians and the pagans together to defeat the encroaching Angles. But to do so, he must claim the role that will forever transform him. He must become the man known to history as “Myrddin.”

Bitter rivalries are ignited, lost loves are found, new loves are born, and old enemies come face-to-face with their reckoning in this compellingly fresh look at one of the most enduring legends of all time."

Because I've been feeling in a very Camelot mood of late!

Mystical Places by Sarah Baxter
Published by: White Lion Publishing
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Discover 25 mystical destinations from around the globe in this enchanting guide full of magic, folklore and exquisitely beautiful places.

Travel writer Sarah Baxter expertly curates the world’s most wonder-filled sites where magic is made manifest. Discover the history and geography of each site and learn their most significant and spellbinding stories, with suggestions of features to look out for and information on ceremonies. Filled with beautifully bewitching illustrations, this guide aims to transport you, in the comfort of your own armchair, to sacred and mystical spots, digging into their legends and evoking their supernatural essence.

Seeking a transcendent travel experience? Take a magical pilgrimage to Alfaborg, the City of Elves; marvel at the otherworldly splendour of Xandadu, the heart of a lost dynasty; and discover the gateway to the afterlife in the Alepotrypa Cave. In these pages we meet mythical kings, explore sacred summits and enchanted architecture, and find a cast of giants, ghosts, golems and sea creatures."

Featured places include Tintagel, England. I have mentioned my current Camelot addiction right?

Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake and Jon Klassen
Published by: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 136 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Wallace and Gromit meets Winnie-the-Pooh in a fresh take on a classic odd-couple friendship, from Newbery Honor author Amy Timberlake with full-color and black-and-white illustrations throughout by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen.

No one wants a skunk.

They are unwelcome on front stoops. They should not linger in Important Rock Rooms. Skunks should never, ever be allowed to move in. But Skunk is Badger’s new roommate, and there is nothing Badger can do about it.

When Skunk plows into Badger’s life, everything Badger knows is upended. Tails are flipped. The wrong animal is sprayed. And why-oh-why are there so many chickens?

“Nooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Newbery Honor author Amy Timberlake spins the first tale in a series about two opposites who need to be friends.

New York Times bestselling author/illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen completes the book with his signature lushly textured art. This beautifully bound edition contains both full-color plates and numerous black-and-white illustrations.

Skunk and Badger is a book you’ll want to read, reread, and read out loud...again and again."

I adore Jon Klassen and I'm from the Badger State making this a must read.

Sue and Tai-chan by Konami Konato
Published by: Kodansha Comics
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The adorable new odd-couple cat comedy manga from the creator of the beloved Chi's Sweet Home and Chi's Sweet Adventures, in full color and formatted for English readers, just like Chi!

Sue is an aging housecat who's looking forward to living out her life in peace... but her plans change when the mischievous black tomcat Tai-chan enters the picture! Hey! Sue never signed up to be a catsitter! Sue and Tai-chan is the latest from the reigning meow-narch of cute kitty comics, Konami Kanata."

I ADORE Chi's Sweet Home and have been so sad that nothing has filled the void, not even Chi's Sweet Adventures, so I am SO excited about Sue and Tai-chan!

Kusama by Elisa Macellari
Published by: Laurence King Publishing
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From rural Japan to international icon - Yayoi Kusama has spent her remarkable life immersed in her art.

Follow her incredible journey in this vivid graphic biography which details her bold departure from Japan as a young artist, her embrace of the buzzing New York art scene in the 1960s, and her eventual return home and rise to twenty-first-century super-fame."

I love biographic graphic novels. I adore ones about the art world and artists!

More Than a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The author of the international bestseller How to Be a Woman returns with another “hilarious neo-feminist manifesto” (NPR) in which she reflects on parenting, middle-age, marriage, existential crises - and, of course, feminism.

A decade ago, Caitlin Moran burst onto the scene with her instant bestseller, How to Be a Woman, a hilarious and resonant take on feminism, the patriarchy, and all things womanhood. Moran’s seminal book followed her from her terrible 13th birthday through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, and beyond - and is considered the inaugural work of the irreverent confessional feminist memoir genre that continues to occupy a major place in the cultural landscape.

Since that publication, it’s been a glorious ten years for young women: Barack Obama loves Fleabag, and Dior make “FEMINIST” t-shirts. However, middle-aged women still have some nagging, unanswered questions: Can feminists have Botox? Why isn’t there such a thing as “Mum Bod”? Why do hangovers suddenly hurt so much? Is the camel-toe the new erogenous zone? Why do all your clothes suddenly hate you? Has feminism gone too far? Will your To Do List ever end? And WHO’S LOOKING AFTER THE CHILDREN?

As timely as it is hysterically funny, this memoir/manifesto will have readers laughing out loud, blinking back tears, and redefining their views on feminism and the patriarchy. More Than a Woman is a brutally honest, scathingly funny, and absolutely necessary take on the life of the modern woman - and one that only Caitlin Moran can provide."

Interesting to link Moran to Fleabag... not sure I quite buy that but I will be buying this book.

Georgian Recipes and Remedies by Michael J. Rochford
Published by: Pen and Sword History
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Discover the recipes for Mrs. Rooke's Very Good Plum Cake and Lady Harbord's Marigold Cheese. Learn how to preserve gooseberries "as green as they grow" and make Sir Theodore Colladon's Peach Flower Syrup. Feast on Lady St. Quintin's Dutch Pudding and Mrs. Eall's Candied Cowslips. Then wash it all down with Lady Strickland's Strong Mead or some Right Red Dutch Currant Wine.

These are just some of the delightful Georgian recipes found in the receipt books of Sabine Winn, the eighteenth-century Swiss-born wife of Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet Nostell of the impressive Palladian mansion, Nostell Priory in Yorkshire. Using centuries-old cookbooks, newspaper clippings, old family recipes and contributions from noble friends, Lady Winn created a wonderfully eclectic collection of mouthwatering dishes that are presented in this new volume for modern readers to enjoy.

Mistrustful of English doctors, Sabine's receipt books also contain scores of remedies for a whole series of complaints, such as: The Best Thing in the World for Languishing Spirits or Fatigue after a Journey; Mrs Aylott's Excellent Remedy for Colic; Aunt Barrington's Cure for Pleurisy; An Approved Medicine to Drive the Scurvy or any other Ill Humour out of a Man's Body; and A Diet Drink to Cure all Manner of Hurts and Wounds."

Because during a pandemic, once you get sick of making modern food, how about taking a trip back in time?

A Witness to Murder by Verity Bright
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 266 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A medieval house, a dead body and some rather suspicious chocolate fudge? Call for Lady Swift!

Autumn, 1920. Lady Eleanor Swift, accidental amateur detective and retired explorer, is determined to take a break from investigating murders. So when a local politician dies suddenly at an elegant dinner party at Farrington Manor, she tries her hardest not to listen to the raft of rumours around the village that he might have been poisoned by the fudge. It's the anniversary of the disappearance of her beloved parents and she's promised herself not to get mixed up with any more mysteries. She isn't sure they'd have approved.

But when she arrives home to discover that Mrs Pitkin, the kindly cook from Farrington Manor, has been dismissed without wage or reference because the police consider her a suspect, Eleanor knows she needs to act. If there was a murder, then she needs to track down the culprit and clear Mrs Pitkin's name.

Accompanied by her faithful partner in crime, Gladstone the bulldog, who has the best nose for sniffing out bones in the country, Eleanor sets out to find the killer. And when another body turns up and she finds poisoned fudge in the victim's house, Eleanor knows she's on the right track. But can she sort the truth from the lies before she becomes a witness to another murder - this time rather closer to home?

An utterly charming cozy mystery! Warm and witty, fans of Agatha Christie, TE Kinsey and LB Hathaway will be totally hooked."

Murder at a Manor, HELL YAS!

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 944 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A breathtaking, labyrinthine epic, Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike and Robin novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough - who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.

As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly..."

Dammit 2020, why can't I have nice things? I was SO looking forward to this book and then J.K. Rowling went all flag waving TERF and I just can't anymore. 

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: September 15th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 880 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a brand new epic novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.

Now she's awakened a nightmare.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope..."

Paolini has left Alagaesia behind and taken us to the stars!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Caitlin Moran, Camelot, Carissa Andrews, Christopher Paolini, Georgian, Katrina Leno, Konami Kanata, Kusama, Laura Carlin, Marieke Nijkamp, Piranesi, Robert Galbraith, Susanna Clarke, Verity Bright

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 20th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 492 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Robin Ellacot's life is about to change. It has changed many times over the last year, professionally from taking a job as Cormoran Strike's secretary and gaining his confidence, allowing her to tail clients as a full fledged investigator, and personally, from getting engaged to Matthew to Matthew's mother dying thus resulting in their wedding being postponed. She has swung with the punches and has everything under control. When she arrives at work one day there's a package addressed to her and she's confident it's just another item on her checklist for wedding prep. She couldn't be more wrong. Within the box is a severed woman's leg along with a Blue Öyster Cult quote from "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl.)" While the package was addressed to her it is obviously a message for Cormoran. The leg, severed just as his was, the song, a favorite of his mother's. Cormoran has many enemies in his past, but there are four capable of such cruelty and perversity; Terrence 'Digger' Malley, a mobster, Noel Brockbank, a pedophile whom Strike investigated when he was in SIB, Donald Laing, a domestic abuser whom Strike had locked up, and his number one suspect, Jeff Whittaker, his stepfather whom he believes responsible for his mother's death. Who else but his stepfather would quote that specific song?

The police though think the mobster Malley is their number one suspect and don't follow up on the other leads. Which leaves it up to Cormoran and Robin to track down the other three suspects. Because Cormoran knows he's prejudiced to his stepfather he won't eliminate the other two until he has conclusive evidence one way or the other. But that doesn't stop the memories from flooding in. The horror of the bedsit, finding his mother dead, the trial that acquitted Whittaker. Cormoran, Robin, and even Matthew are being haunted by their pasts, but whose past will prove deadly? When Robin starts to become the focus of the killer her inability to step back from the case leads to a rupture with Matthew while simultaneously bringing her and Cormoran closer together. They travel the length and breath of England trying to track down these three disturbed men, yet perhaps the world of body dysmorphia and those who want to be handicapped and amputated is the most disturbing of all. Especially to Cormoran who can't see why anyone wouldn't want two functioning legs. As the bodies pile up the stakes get higher and the danger more immediate. Can they find the killer before he gets to one of them or are all three men guilty of something and will stop at nothing to protect their secrets?

When J.K. Rowling was revealed to be Robert Galbraith the first book in the Cormoran Strike series, The Cuckoo's Calling, instantly moved up my to be read list, though I take a little bit of pride in the fact that it was on my to be read list prior to the reveal. The first book introduces us to her cast of characters and a crime that needs to be solved, but it's quickly apparent that Rowling is more interested in the characters than the crime. Which is fine, as long as the balance is correct. There needs to be enough of a connection between the characters and the crime in order for them to jointly propel the narrative. This balance wasn't achieved until Career of Evil, the third book in the series. The first two books deal with celebrity and the literary world, which is personal, for Rowling, only tangentially so for Strike. Therefore to have such a personal story, a crime so entangled with Cormoran and Robin, the series not only reached it's zenith, it reached it's full potential. To have fallen in love with these two characters over the course of this series but to have that feeling that their journey could be so much more, to feel the wasted potential, it was almost painful to read. But if I were to compare this series to Rowling's far more famous wizarding series, there too the third volume is where it all clicked for me. So in the future, if Rowling ever starts another series under her own or another name, remind me to give her until the third installment to pass judgment.

Cormoran's relationship with Robin has benefited from this slow burn of narrative construction. In the very first book, almost from the second Cormoran meets Robin, he says to himself that their relationship can only ever be platonic, despite her looks, her talents, and that dress he got her. She is with Matthew, and that is that. Therefore as a reader you also put it out of your mind. They are colleagues nothing more. They will not fall prey to the "Moonlighting Effect!" Yet having just watched all of Moonlighting again, you can clearly see how they failed. The constant bait and switch, the characters acting out of character, and finally just trying to deny there ever was any chemistry to begin with. Here we have seen strangers become friends become colleagues and maybe, one day, they will become something more. When Robin temporarily breaks things off with Matthew and is more and more with Cormoran, she wonders, he wonders, we all wonder, could this be the first step? So while there has been a little of that Moonlighting frisson sprinkled into this latest installment, I kind of do and don't want something to happen. But what I did want was to luxuriate in each and every page as I went on this journey with a couple who might never become a couple...

Because Robin has a complicated past. Long hinted at and finally revealed. I applaud that Robin's assault in college shows what a strong person she is. Yes, she dropped out of college and retreated into herself and stays with Matthew because he's "safe." Yet at the same time she was able to pay attention when she was attacked and came forward to be the key witness to send the rapist to prison. This is such a key insight into Robin's personality. She preservers despite whatever odds are stacked against her. She wants to fight for what is right, she wants to catch the bad guys, she wants to be there, at Cormoran's side, not hiding away in a bedroom staring at the same four walls day in and day out. Despite being published three years before the launch of the #MeToo movement, Robin's story shows us strength through pain. She has taken what many still unjustly view as a stigma and didn't let it define her but let it inform who she became. Before this revelation of hers I didn't so much wonder why she left college, there are myriad reasons for people to do so, but I did often wonder what Robin the psychologist would have been like. Would she have been able to help people in as tangible a method as she does with Cormoran? Or did her attack lead her to the life she was meant to lead? Of course, this is a book so it's all staged to be fate, but to me Robin is real and she's a survivor who has come into her own.

Switching gears, for all those people out there who don't read books and instead wait for them to be adapted into movies or TV series I have to really restrain myself from beating them about the head and instead I will take the higher ground and tell them why sometimes books are better for certain narrative techniques. There are things you can do in a book that just don't work in a visual medium. For example the trope of seeing through a killer's eyes works so much better in prose versus tricky POV shots and shaky camera angles on screen where we see their lair or their next victim between some foliage. It's not just that it's a cliche, it's that sometimes it plays the final hand without the filmmakers really realizing it. I will take the movie Kiss the Girls as an example. Now hopefully you won't get mad at me for spoiling a film that came out over twenty years ago based on a book by James Patterson from 1995, but you've had ample chances to watch it before now and if you're honest with yourself, you would have seen it sometime in the last twenty years if you really wanted to. So, my mom was watching the opening of the movie and the killer is narrating, and I said, "I didn't know Cary Elwes was in the movie." So the ending was ruined because I recognized the killer's voice... That can't happen in books! There's so much more tension not knowing and not inadvertently spoiling it for yourself. Books for the win!

Also, Rowling, I mean, Galbraith, doesn't just know the tropes and what works better when, she revels in toying with the reader. The use of red herrings in Career of Evil is masterful, because some are made purposefully obvious and others are hidden, but all the while you're thinking, is this a red herring or is this something else? While red herrings are traditionally thought of as just misleading information that has to be worked through in order solve the crime they are also meant as a distraction. Here's something shiny, is it important? And I was like a cat, pouncing on every single one and playing with it, holding it up to the light, wondering, is this a real clue, gnawing on it a bit, and eventually just waiting for the next one to show up and start me thinking all over again. Even the title of the book is a red herring! The song "Career of Evil" by Blue Öyster Cult makes you think that only one of the three suspects that Cormoran has fingered could possibly be the perpetrator, and Galbraith toys with that assumption again and again. For over four hundred pages the three suspects are deftly juggled with red herrings so that you never know where the finger will finally point. This made me devour this book late into the night wanting to know the answer but at the same time hoping it would never end. Thankfully I have Lethal White now lined up...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: #MeToo, Blue Öyster Cult, Career of Evil, Cary Elwes, Cormoran Strike, James Patterson, Kiss the Girls, Lethal White, Moonlighting, Red Herrings, Robert Galbraith, Robin Ellacot, Ten Years, The Cuckoo's Calling

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: September 20th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 492 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Robin Ellacot's life is about to change. It has changed many times over the last year, professionally from taking a job as Cormoran Strike's secretary to gaining his confidence, allowing her to tail clients as a full fledged investigator, and personally, from getting engaged to Matthew to Matthew's mother dying thus resulting in their wedding being postponed. She has swung with the punches and has everything under control. When she arrives at work one day there's a package addressed to her and she's confident it's just another item on her checklist for wedding prep. She couldn't be more wrong. Within the box is a severed woman's leg along with a Blue Öyster Cult quote from "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl.)" While the package was addressed to her it is obviously a message for Cormoran. The leg, severed just as his was, the song, a favorite of his mother's. Cormoran has many enemies in his past, but there are four capable of such cruelty and perversity; Terrence 'Digger' Malley, a mobster, Noel Brockbank, a pedophile whom Strike investigated when he was in SIB, Donald Laing, a domestic abuser whom Strike had locked up, and his number one suspect, Jeff Whittaker, his stepfather whom he believes responsible for his mother's death. Who else but his stepfather would quote that specific song?

The police though think the mobster Malley is their number one suspect and don't follow up on the other leads. Which leaves it up to Cormoran and Robin to track down the other three suspects. Because Cormoran knows he's prejudiced to his stepfather he won't eliminate the other two until he has conclusive evidence one way or the other. But that doesn't stop the memories from flooding in. The horror of the bedsit, finding his mother dead, the trial that acquitted Whittaker. Cormoran, Robin, and even Matthew are being haunted by their pasts, but whose past will prove deadly? When Robin starts to become the focus of the killer her inability to step back from the case leads to a rupture with Matthew while simultaneously bringing her and Cormoran closer together. They travel the length and breath of England trying to track down these three disturbed men, yet perhaps the world of body dysmorphia and those who want to be handicapped and amputated is the most disturbing of all. Especially to Cormoran who can't see why anyone wouldn't want two functioning legs. As the bodies pile up the stakes get higher and the danger more immediate. Can they find the killer before he gets to one of them or are all three men guilty of something and will stop at nothing to protect their secrets?

When J.K. Rowling was revealed to be Robert Galbraith the first book in the Cormoran Strike series, The Cuckoo's Calling, instantly moved up my to be read list, though I take a little bit of pride in the fact that it was on my to be read list prior to the reveal. The first book introduces us to her cast of characters and a crime that needs to be solved, but it's quickly apparent that Rowling is more interested in the characters than the crime. Which is fine, as long as the balance is correct. There needs to be enough of a connection between the characters and the crime in order for them to jointly propel the narrative. This balance wasn't achieved until Career of Evil, the third book in the series. The first two books deal with celebrity and the literary world, which is personal, for Rowling, only tangentially so for Strike. Therefore to have such a personal story, a crime so entangled with Cormoran and Robin, the series not only reached it's zenith, it reached it's full potential. To have fallen in love with these two characters over the course of this series but to have that feeling that their journey could be so much more, to feel the wasted potential, it was almost painful to read. But if I were to compare this series to Rowling's far more famous wizarding series, there too the third volume is where it all clicked for me. So in the future, if Rowling ever starts another series under her own or another name, remind me to give her until the third installment to pass judgment.

Cormoran's relationship with Robin has benefited from this slow burn of narrative construction. In the very first book, almost from the second Cormoran meets Robin, he says to himself that their relationship can only ever be platonic, despite her looks, her talents, and that dress he got her. She is with Matthew, and that is that. Therefore as a reader you also put it out of your mind. They are colleagues nothing more. They will not fall prey to the "Moonlighting Effect!" Yet having just watched all of Moonlighting again, you can clearly see how they failed. The constant bait and switch, the characters acting out of character, and finally just trying to deny there ever was any chemistry to begin with. Here we have seen strangers become friends become colleagues and maybe, one day, they will become something more. When Robin temporarily breaks things off with Matthew and is more and more with Cormoran, she wonders, he wonders, we all wonder, could this be the first step? So while there has been a little of that Moonlighting frisson sprinkled into this latest installment, I kind of do and don't want something to happen. But what I did want was to luxuriate in each and every page as I went on this journey with a couple who might never become a couple...

Because Robin has a complicated past. Long hinted at and finally revealed. I applaud that Robin's assault in college shows what a strong person she is. Yes, she dropped out of college and retreated into herself and stays with Matthew because he's "safe." Yet at the same time she was able to pay attention when she was attacked and come forward and be the key witness to send the rapist to prison. This is such a key insight into Robin's personality. She preservers despite whatever odds are stacked against her. She wants to fight for what is right, she wants to catch the bad guys, she wants to be there, at Cormoran's side, not hiding away in a bedroom staring at the same four walls day in and day out. Despite being published three years before the launch of the #MeToo movement, Robin's story shows us strength through pain. She has taken what many still unjustly view as a stigma and didn't let it define her but let it inform who she became. Before this revelation of hers I didn't so much wonder why she left college, there are myriad reasons for people to do so, but I did often wonder what Robin the psychologist would have been like. Would she have been able to help people in as tangible a method as she does with Cormoran? Or did her attack lead her to the life she was meant to lead? Of course, this is a book so it's all staged to be fate, but to me, Robin is real, and she's a survivor who has come into her own.

Switching gears, for all those people out there who don't read books and instead wait for them to be adapted into movies or TV series I have to really restrain myself from beating them about the head and instead I will take the higher ground and tell them why sometimes books are better for certain narrative techniques. There are things you can do in a book that just don't work in a visual medium. For example the trope of seeing through a killer's eyes works so much better in prose versus tricky POV shots and shaky camera angles on screen where we see their lair or their next victim between some foliage. It's not just that it's a cliche, it's that sometimes it plays the final hand without the filmmakers really realizing it. I will take the movie Kiss the Girls as an example. Now hopefully you won't get mad at me for spoiling a film that came out over twenty years ago based on a book by James Patterson from 1995, but you've had ample chances to watch it before now and if you're honest with yourself, you would have seen it sometime in the last twenty years if you really wanted to. So, my mom was watching the opening of the movie and the killer is narrating, and I said, "I didn't know Cary Elwes was in the movie." So the ending was ruined because I recognized the killer's voice... That can't happen in books! There's so much more tension not knowing and not inadvertently spoiling it for yourself. Books for the win!

Also, Rowling, I mean, Galbraith, doesn't just know the tropes and what works better when, she revels in toying with the reader. The use of red herrings in Career of Evil is masterful, because some are made purposefully obvious and others are hidden, but all the while you're thinking, is this a red herring or is this something else? While red herrings are traditionally thought of as just misleading information that has to be worked through in order solve the crime they are also meant as a distraction. Here's something shiny, is it important? And I was like a cat, pouncing on every single one and playing with it, holding it up to the light, wondering, is this a real clue, gnawing on it a bit, and eventually just waiting for the next one to show up and start me thinking all over again. Even the title of the book is a red herring! The song "Career of Evil" by Blue Öyster Cult makes you think that only one of the three suspects that Cormoran has fingered could possibly be the perpetrator, and Galbraith toys with that assumption again and again. For over four hundred pages the three suspects are deftly juggled with red herrings so that you never know where the finger will finally point. This made me devour this book late into the night wanting to know the answer but at the same time hoping it would never end. Thankfully I have Lethal White now lined up...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: #MeToo, Blue Öyster Cult, Career of Evil, Cary Elwes, Cormoran Strike, James Patterson, Kiss the Girls, Lethal White, Moonlighting, Red Herrings, Robert Galbraith, Robin Ellacot, The Cuckoo's Calling