strange and random happenstance

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: February 21st, 2009
Format: Kindle, 188 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The main reason Enola has been able to keep herself hidden from her brothers is by secreting herself away in the poorer section of London. While sacrificing luxury and safety and a well cooked meal, her landlady, Mrs. Tupper, has become something of a surrogate mother to Enola in her own mother's absence. So when Mrs. Tupper is threatened things hit a little too close to home for Enola's sake and she vows to get to the bottom of things. It turns out Mrs. Tupper isn't at all who Enola assumed, starting with the fact she's far more observant than Enola has ever given her credit for. Enola could have sworn she'd gotten away with all her different disguises, turns out Mrs. Tupper just didn't like to pry. Mrs. Tupper has kept her own history secret so what does she care if her own lodger does the same? But the time has come to tell Enola of her past because whatever "message" the thugs want from her she has no idea what they are referring to. Mrs. Tupper's husband was in the Crimean War. As was often the case she followed her husband to the front because there was no way to send money home and it was the only way for her husband to support her. When he was injured in Scutari, Turkey, Mrs. Tupper met Florence Nightingale, who was trying to help care for the wounded. Byzantine ideas about health care meant that the injured men were left alone all night, the nurses only allowed to work during the day. Mrs. Tupper's husband died one night and Florence Nightingale took pity on the young pregnant war widow who had gone deaf from the bombs at the front. She gave her a new outfit and money enough to return home to England. Sadly Mrs. Tupper lost the baby and in her despair throughy no more of the nice nurse who helped her return home. But as far as she knew there was no message. Yes, she was given a piece of paper, but she can't read and got ride of it. But apparantly that message is very important because Mrs. Tupper is soon kidnapped and Enola is demanding to see the bedridden Florence Nightingale because no one takes her landlady and gets away with it!

In a series that is peopled with fictional characters it's always a bit of a risk to bring in an actual historical figure. People have preconceived notions about what they were like and unless it's a small cameo there's more chance for it to go wrong. Now I'm sure some people actually view Sherlock Holmes as real and hopefully love the way Nancy Springer has portrayed him like I do, but he's real in a different way than say Florence Nightingale. And that was really the sticking point for me in this book. I loved the idea of Florence Nightingale being a spy, I loved the coded message in the crinoline composed of embroidered flowers, once more showing how women can subvert what society thinks of them by using home arts to convey important information, but it just didn't quite work. The version of Florence Nightingale that I have in my head really comes from two sources, Drunk History and Victoria. I know these aren't probably the best sources, but Paget Brewster covered the whole Florence Nightingale taking to her bed and ruling her little world from the comfort of her mattress so I at least knew about that weird little historical detail that actually plays an important role in Enola's case. My problem was more with how Enola talked about Florence being an invalid than necessarily in how Florence herself was handled. Enola views Florence as a strange eccentric who likes to hold everyone under her power by claiming to be an invalid. Of course she eventually admits that her "every inference concerning the remarkable Florence Nightingale proved wrong, as became apparent to [her] within a few minutes." Florence just didn't want to waste time on social niceties and just wanted to get down to work. OK, fine. That's totally believable. What wasn't cool was that Enola's view of invalids was so negative. Yes, she's from the upper classes where invalids are more likely highly strung people looking for attention, but that doesn't mean they can be all classified as malingerers. Her contempt for the ill, and let us make it very clear, we actually don't know if Florence Nightingale was ill or not, left a bad taste in my mouth that all the flowery codes couldn't ameliorate.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Crimean War, Drunk History, Embroidery, Enola Holmes, Florence Nightingale, Invalid, Kidnapping, Mrs. Tupper, Nancy Springer, Paget Brewster, Scutari, Sherlocked, The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, Turkey, Victoria

Ruby Spencer's Whisky Year by Rochelle Bilow
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a thirty-something American food writer moves to a Scottish village for one year to fulfill her dream of writing a cookbook she finds more than inspiration - she meets a handsome Scotsman she can't resist in this charming debut romance.

Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It's hard to know what to expect after an impulse decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment - but she knows it's high time she had an adventure.

The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. Between designing pop-up suppers and conversing with the colorful locals, Ruby starts to see a future that stretches beyond her year of adventure. It doesn't hurt that Brochan, the ruggedly handsome local handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage. Though Ruby swore off men, she can't help fantasizing what a roll in the barley might be like with the bearded Scot.

As Ruby grows closer to Brochan and the tightly held traditions of the charming village, she discovers secret plans to turn her beloved pub into an American chain restaurant. Faced with an impossible choice, Ruby must decide between love, loyalty, and the Highlands way of life."

Can you think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day then with a HEA?

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A perfectly wicked debut thriller about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country's wealthiest families.

Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she's worth and is determined to get all she deserves - it just so happens that what she deserves is to marry rich. Filthy rich. After years of forced instruction by her mother in the art of swindling men, a now-solo Bea wants nothing more than to close and lock the door on their sordid partnership so she can disappear safely into old-money domesticity, sealing the final phase of her escape.

When Bea chooses her ultimate target in the fully loaded, thoroughly dull and blue-blooded Collin Case, she's ready to deploy all of her tricks one last time. The challenge isn't getting the ring, but rather the approval of Collin's family and everyone else in their 1 percent tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend, Gale Wallace-Leicester.

Going toe-to-toe with Gale isn't a threat to an expert like Bea, but what begins as an amusing cat-and-mouse game quickly develops into a dangerous pursuit of the grisly truth. Finding herself at a literal life-and-death crossroads with everything on the line, Bea must finally decide who she really wants to be.

Like mother, like daughter?"

Because sometimes grifters need to look within.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A sumptuous, Gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales - the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after - and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor's extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo's dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife's secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage...or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive."

You always have to ask yourself, can I keep a promise. If not, you should not take what is offered.

The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss
Published by: Mythic Delirium Books
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 436 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A wicked stepsister frets over all the ways in which she failed to receive her mother's love. A lost woman travels through an enchanted forest looking for someone who can remind her of her name. A girl must wear down seven pairs of shoes to gain help from a witch. A fox makes a life with a human, but neither can deny their true natures. A young woman returns to her childhood home and the fantastic stories she left there. A man lets himself be taken prisoner by the Snow Queen to prove that the woman who loves him would walk barefoot through the ice to save him. Medusa cuts her hair for love.

The Collected Enchantments gathers retellings of folk and fairy tales in prose and verse from World Fantasy and Locus award-winning author Theodora Goss, creator of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series. Drawing from her Mythopoeic Award-nominated collections In the Forest of Forgetting and Songs for Ophelia and her Mythopoeic Award-winning tome Snow White Learns Witchcraft, and adding new and uncollected stories and poems, The Collected Enchantments provides a resounding demonstration of how, as Hugo and Nebula award winner Jo Walton writes, Goss provides "a vivid, authentic and important voice" that, in the words of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association Grand Master Jane Yolen, "transposes, transforms, and transcends times, eras, and old tales with ease.""

No one can spin an old tale in a new way like Theodora Goss.

Death of a Traitor by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Sergeant Hamish Macbeth - Scotland's most quick witted but unambitious policeman - is back to investigate the disappearance of a local woman who is more than she seems, in this new mystery in M.C. Beaton's beloved, New York Times bestselling series.

Kate Hibbert is all too eager to lend a hand to her neighbors. Although she has been a resident of the sleepy village of Lochdubh for only a year, in that time Kate has alienated one too many of its residents with her interfering - and not entirely well-intentioned - ways. When Kate's neighbor sees her lugging a heavy suitcase to the bus stop, he hopes that the prying woman is leaving for good. But two weeks later, Kate's cousin arrives in town with the news that Kate has gone missing - and she demands that the local police step in.

Sergeant Hamish Macbeth is called in to investigate the disappearance, and soon he is befuddled by a storm of lies, intrigue, and scandal...and the sneaking suspicion that Kate was someone much more sinister than she claimed. Torn between loyalty to Lochdubh and his job, Hamish begins threading his way through a maze of deceit, quickly finding himself on the trail of a ruthless, treacherous murderer. If he catches the killer, peace can return to the village. If he fails, he will lose everything: his job, his home, and the life he so loves in Lochdubh."

Just the other day I was wondering why they were continuing the Agatha Raisin books but not the Hamish Macbeth ones, well turns out they are!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Raisin, Fairy Tale Retelling, Gothic, Hamish Macbeth, M.C. Beaton, Mystery, R.W. Green, Rachel Koller Croft, Rochelle Bilow, Romance, Roshani Chokshi, Scotland, Theodora Goss, Valentine's Day

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: September 18th, 2008
Format: Kindle, 204 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola Holmes is taking a bit of a respite in one of London's brand new public lavatories for women. Such luxury, such decadence, such convenience! While there she sees someone she's been hoping to run into for quite some time, Lady Cecily Alistair. Ever since Enola rescued her from the clutches of Alexander Finch she has been hoping the two would become the best of friends. But when you're busy evading the grasp of your brothers, socializing isn't really at the top of your priorities. Plus, with her caseload, when would she have the time? But now she must make time, because Lady Cecily looks distraught. When Lady Cecily sees Enola she pulls out a pink fan and signals that she needs help. Before the two gorgons who are guarding Cecily return she drops the fan for Enola to pick up. Enola now has two clues, the gorgons and the fan. She would have more if she had been able to follow the trio, but she literally ran right into her brother Mycroft and that had her a bit shaken. She was hopeful that the gorgons dropped Lady Cecily at home, but that would be too easy. She is no longer in residence. What's more, Lady Cecily's mother has fled to her country estate which means Enola doesn't have a friendly face within the family to help with her inquiries. Back at her lodgings she scours old society columns looking for the gorgons but to no avail. Not only does she realize how much she hates gossip columns, but it has given her an idea. The fan has become the most important clue and this happens to lead her to one of the gorgons, whom flattery and vanity work wonders on. Lady Cecily is engaged to her cousin Bramwell. Judging by how she looked in the ladies lavatory this isn't by choice. Finding out where Lady Cecily is supposedly located Enola learns she isn't the only Holmes on the case. This could be a major problem, especially after her run in with Mycroft. Luckily, for perhaps the only time, she has the upper hand with Sherlock. She will help him and in return he will not use this case as a way to trap her. Because Lady Cecily's safety is, for the moment, more important than Enola's.

Anyone who has ever done a deep dive into historical fiction or British costume dramas has, at some point, learned a little in passing about the language of fans. Using a fan to communicate that which cannot be spoken to members of the opposite sex seems a bit far-fetched and impractical to me. At least with the language of flowers you can sit around admiring them and decoding them as you will, but fan gestures to me seem so fleeting and, dare I say, useless. But I love how this series is always using codes and secrets that are relegated to the female domain and making them useful for purposes other than flirting. Here is the first time I've seen fans used in a logical manner, aka, to call for help when to say so out loud would be dangerous. Genius! No one would, or in this case did, suspect and Lady Cecily was saved due to a pink fan. And while this is brilliant, I think what shines out most in this volume is it's humor. Nancy Springer knew that to balance the darkness of what Lady Cecily was going through there needed to be some truly funny moments to counter the bleak. I literally snorted out loud with mirth when Enola ran into Mycroft, screaming and then injuring him to make her escape. But nothing will EVER compare to how Nancy Springer wrote Enola's internal monologue while she searched the Victorian papers for clues as to the identities of Lady Cecily's captures. "Although I cannot say I particularly enjoyed it. Over the course of the next several hours I learned that croquet was quite passé, tennis and archery still in mode, but the Very Latest Sport for ladies was golf. Lord Jug-ears and Lady Parsnip-face had been seen coaching in Hyde Park; she wore a Worth gown of ciel-bleu French gibberish moire...A most distinguished gathering had attended the christening of Baby So-and-so, firstborn son of Lord Such-a-much Earl of What-does-it-matter. Satin was Out, peau de soie In. An oil-painting exhibition themed around the Progress of the British Empire was viewable at Gallery Ever-so-exclusive. Viscount and Viscountess Ancient-lineage announced the engagement of their daughter Long-name to Great-prospects, the younger son of Earl Blue-blood...I peered at photographs of Duchess Duck-foot’s boating-party, Baron Bulb-nose’s cricket-team’s annual banquet, Debutante Wasp-waist’s coming-out ball, and dozens more without finding either of the two unpleasant faces I sought." Well, I can say I did particularly enjoy it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bramwell, Enola Holmes, Forced Marriage, Gossip, Lady Cecily Alistair, Mycroft Holmes, Newspapers, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, The Language of Fans, The Language of Flowers

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

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 252 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola goes by the name Miss Ivy Meshle now and works for Dr. Ragostin, the world's first perditorian, one who divines that which is lost. Of course there's the little fact that Dr. Ragostin doesn't actually exist and that Enola doesn't limit her disguises to just Miss Meshle. Enola wanted to hang out her shingle in competition to her famous brother Sherlock, he had found his life's work and now she had found hers. Only she had to make sure Sherlock and her other brother Mycroft wouldn't find her, hence the alias and the fictitious boss. That and the wholly sexist notion that no one would believe a woman capable of running what amounts to a detective agency. Thanks to her mother Enola was actually able to buy the building Dr. Ragostin's offices are in, running the other rooms as a boarding house, thus providing her with a tidy income. She'd show the world what a woman could do, even if she couldn't take the credit. And as luck would have it she has discovered her first case. Lady Cecily Alistair is the daughter of a wealthy baronet and she has gone missing. The family doesn't want this known because it would reflect badly on them and ruin their daughter's chances of making a good match. Enola therefore knows she must tread carefully and arrives at the Alistair's London home as the young wife of Dr. Ragostin. She is admitted into the inner sanctum of the house and soon has access to Lady Cecily's rooms. It is odd indeed. Things appear as if Lady Cecily just got out of bed and climbed down the ladder pushed up against her window and simply left her family behind. But a young woman of breeding would never do that would she? What's more, Lady Cecily had secrets. Most interestingly, she was left-handed, a fact her family didn't want known and she kept hidden, often forced to use her right hand. Her true feelings and talents only emerge when she secretly uses her left hand. Her worries about the London poor, her drawings of their plight, and her letters to a Alexander Finch. What could it all mean? All Enola knows is that Lady Cecily seems like the type of girl Enola would be proud to call her first friend and therefore she must rescue her from whatever situation she has gotten herself into. No matter how dangerous.

I know I can't be the only one who was tickled that Enola's solution to setting up her own business is basically the plot to Remington Steele. She is the Victorian era's Laura Holt! Though if anyone suggests setting up Viscount Tewkesbury as Steele I will be forced to slap them. This series keeps surprising me again and again with just how relevant it is. Which in a way makes me sad that it's been over a hundred years and the problems Enola was dealing with are still being dealt with. Yeah yeah, I know these were written only a few years back and not in the Victorian era, but Nancy Springer does her research and captures the time period perfectly in a way to which we can relate. What shocked me though was how eerily relevant the anti-vaxxer mob was. Did she know something we didn't know about how dumb people are and what could happen if another pandemic happened? At least in the Victorian era it was a little more understandable because of the lack of education and the high illiteracy rate, which makes it even more shocking to me that educated people will latch onto the lie in this day and age. WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. And we really should know better than the uneducated poor of the Victorian slums. Which is why I love this series, it's so socially aware. Enola doesn't live in a bubble. She understands excatly where she stands in society, the rights she doesn't have, the power her brothers do, and she works to subvert that all while helping those who need it. The fact that she dresses up as a nun and walks the streets at night offering them food or a warm blanket shows that she gets that even the smallest kindness can help. What's more it offers a nice balance to her brothers. They both live in this rarefied world. Sherlock only really views the poor and destitute as good disguises to blend in. But does he ever think to help these people? No! Just look at how he treats his irregulars! They are conveniently of a low enough station to be of use to him. If he helped them more, elevated them out of the slums, they would be of no use to him and so he doesn't help. And in the final contrast to her brother, Enola's purpose in life as a perditorian isn't about making a name for herself, it's about finding what was lost, a cause close to her as she has lost her mother. To find one's purpose at so young an age must be a wonderful feeling.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anti-Vaxxer, Dr. Ragostin, Enola Holmes, Lady Cecily Alistair, Miss Ivy Meshle, Nancy Springer, Perditorian, Remington Steele, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, Victorian

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fans of The Once and Future Witches and Practical Magic, comes an incredibly imaginative, highly anticipated new novel featuring witches, magic, and a road trip across America - from Cherie Dimaline, the critically acclaimed author of Empire of Wild.

Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she'll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella. But then one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. She burrows through a wall to find a tarnished silver spoon, humming with otherworldly energy, etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM.

Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon connects her to a teeming network of witches across North America who have anxiously awaited her discovery.

Enter VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money (its name is an anagram of "coven.") VenCo's witches hide in plain sight wherever women gather: Tupperware parties, Mommy and Me classes, suburban book clubs. Since colonial times, they have awaited the moment the seven spoons will come together and ignite a new era, returning women to their rightful power.

But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He's Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.

To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.

A wildly imaginative and compulsively readable fantasia of adventure, history, Americana, feminism, and magic, VenCo is a novel only the supremely gifted Cherie Dimaline could write."

Dammit, I knew my book club could be something more!

The Spite House by Johnny Compton
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making - The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money - it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house's horrors don't drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running."

Think how bad things must be to accept this bargain?

The Twisted Dead by Darcy Coates
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Keira must decide if she should use her ability to contact ghosts to help the man who once tried to kill her.

Hunted and haunted, all she wants is to put her mysterious past behind her and move forward with her new friends as Blighty Graveyard's groundskeeper. But then she receives an invitation to dinner at the local recluse's crumbling ancestral estate. The mansion is steeped in history that is equal parts complicated and bloody - and at its center is the man who once tried to kill her, now begging for her help.

Dane Crispin believes his home is haunted - and that the unquiet dead clawing through the ancient house are after him. Unnerved but intrigued, Keira opens her second sight and discovers he's right: resentful specters cling to Dane…and if she can't find a way to stop them, threaten to consume everything in their path.

There's something dark happening in the world beyond most peoples' vision, and if Keira isn't able to sever the ties between the living and the dead, the chained spirits may not be the only things twisted beyond saving."

If it wasn't a "fate of the world" situation I'd let the ghosts have him!

Such Pretty Flowers by K.L. Cerra
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A woman investigating her brother's apparent suicide finds herself falling for her prime suspect - his darkly mysterious girlfriend - in this "creepy, compelling, and utterly original" (Karen Dionne) thriller.

"Get it out of me."

It was the last message Holly received from her brother, Dane, before he was found cleaved open in the lavish Savannah townhouse of his girlfriend, Maura. Police ruled his death a suicide sparked by psychosis, but Holly can't shake the idea that something else must have happened - something involving another message he sent earlier that night about a "game" Maura wanted to play.

Determined to discover the truth, Holly begins to stalk Maura, a magnetic, black-eyed florist with a penchant for carnivorous plants. But what begins as an investigation quickly veers into a fixation that lures Holly into the depths of Maura's world: Savannah high society, eerie black roses, and a whisper of something more sinister. Soon Holly is feeling a dark attraction to the one woman she shouldn't trust. As Holly falls deeper for Maura and her secrets, she's left with only one choice: find out what happened to Dane or meet the same fate."

Rule number one, don't fall for anyone your sibling dated.

Never Too Old to Save the World edited by Alana Joli Abbot and Addie J. King
Published by: Outland Entertainment
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 318 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Once every generation there is a Chosen One, who will stand between humanity and darkness.

But why is the Chosen One so often a teenager? Why do only children get swept through portals to save the fantastic world on the other side? Whose idea was it to put the fate of the world in the hands of someone without a fully developed prefrontal cortex?

In Never Too Old to Save the World, nineteen authors explore what would happen if the Chosen One were called midlife. What would happen if the Chosen One were:

a soccer mom
a cat lady
a nosy grandmother
a social worker
a retiree
an aging swordmaster?

The Chosen One could be anyone -  because when the universe calls, the real question is whether the hero will take up the mantle and answer their midlife calling. Sometimes the world needs a hero who's already been in the thick of chaos and survived. In those cases, age does matter."

Not that I'm willing to admit I'm in my midlife, I just love this concept so much. Think how experience could help in an end of the world/Chosen One situation?

Victory City by Salman Rushdie
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries - from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize - winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie.

In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for her namesake, the goddess Pampa, who begins to speak out of the girl's mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana's comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga - "victory city" - the wonder of the world.

Over the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana's life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga's, from its literal sowing from a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry - with Pampa Kampana at its center.

Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, Victory City is a saga of love, adventure, and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling."

Seriously, how did Rushdie NOT get a Noble Peace Prize last year?

Love a Lady at Midnight by Charlie Lane
Published by: Independently Published
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Kindles
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this sizzling Regency romance by USA Today Bestselling author Charlie Lane, a lady with a secret runs from the gentleman who loves her.

She's not who she says she is.

Shadows, secrets, and Jackson Cavendish - all things Miss Gwendolyn Smith runs from. She's determined to live a life of obscurity, studying dusty tomes. Better that steady present than her haunting past or a future she cannot have. When a letter arrives that threatens her secrets and Jackson tells her he's done waiting, she must choose - face her past and gain a future? Or continue running from both.

He fell first, but he'll win at last.

Mr. Jackson Cavendish has chased Gwendolyn for six years but only caught her once. In Paris at midnight. He'll never forget what she felt like in his arms. And he's determined to repeat the experience. Every night for the rest of their lives. But how to convince the woman he loves to trust him with her secrets?

He's tried seduction.
He's tried retreat.
Now he'll have to reveal his own fears and secret guilt.

When these two scholars must dig into their own pasts, they'll learn how to build a future from it or lose each other forever."

Aw, romantic scholars and their secrets!

Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Of Manners and Murder is the first in the delightful new Dear Miss Hermione mystery series from Anastasia Hastings.

1885: London, England. When Violet's Aunt Adelia decides to abscond with her newest paramour, she leaves behind her role as the most popular Agony Aunt in London, "Miss Hermione," in Violet's hands.

And of course, the first letter Violet receives is full, not of prissy pondering, but of portent. Ivy Armstrong is in need of help and fears for her life. But when Violet visits the village where the letters were posted, she finds that Ivy is already dead.

She'll quickly discover that when you represent the best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course."

Because solving crimes are second nature to solving problems for Agony Aunts! Even if it's a role that's thrust upon you!

The Weight of Air by Kimberly Duffy
Published by: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In 1911, Mabel MacGinnis is Europe's strongest woman and has performed beside her father in the Manzo Brothers Circus her entire life. But at his unexpected death, she loses everything she's ever known and sets off in the company of acrobat Jake Cunningham for America in hope of finding the mother she's just discovered is still alive.

Isabella Moreau, the nation's most feted aerialist, has given everything to the circus. But age and injury now threaten her security, and Isabella, stalked by old fears, makes a choice that risks everything. When her daughter Mabel appears alongside the man who never wanted to see Isabella again, Isabella is forced to face the truth of where, and in what, she derives her worth.

In this evocative novel from Kimberly Duffy, the meaning of strength takes center stage as the lives of three circus performers become entangled beneath the glittering lights and flying trapeze of Madison Square Garden."

I'm a sucker for circuses, of the olden thyme variety.

Double the Lies by Patricia Raybon
Published by: Tyndale House Publishers
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the cold and dangerous spring of 1924, amateur detective Annalee Spain races the clock to solve the murder of a white barnstorming pilot before the clever Black theologian - a target of the ruthless Colorado Klan - is framed for the crime, and before she is lured by the risky flirtations of the victim's dashing twin brother.

As this second installment of Patricia Raybon's critically acclaimed mystery series opens, Annalee Spain offers her fancy lace handkerchief - a gift from her complicated pastor boyfriend, Jack Blake - to a young woman crying in a Denver public library. But later that night, when police find the handkerchief next to the body of the young woman's murdered husband, Annalee becomes the number one suspect, and her panic doubles when she learns that Jack has gone missing.

With just days to solve the murder before the city's Klan-run police frame her for the crime, Annalee finds herself hunting for clues in the Colorado mountain town of Estes Park. She questions the victim's wife and her uncle, a wealthy Denver banker, at their mountain lodge, desperate for leads. Instead, she finds a household full of suspects and even more burning questions. Who keeps threatening her, why can't she find Jack, and will a dangerous flirtation be her undoing? Her answers plumb the depths of the human heart, including her own, exploring long-buried secrets, family lies, even city politics - all of which could cost the young detective her fledgling love...and perhaps even her life."

Tell me more about this households whose secret depths she must plumb?

Death by a Cornish Cove by Fliss Chester
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 289 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A seaside party at a Cornish mansion with plenty of fizz, what could be more perfect? But something fishy is afoot…a killer lurks among the guests, and only Cressida Fawcett can stop them.

When Cressida Fawcett is invited to stay at Penbeagle House on the Cornish coast for a fancy-dress ball, she is looking forward to sipping rum cocktails clad as a pirate, watching the red-sailed boats go by and relaxing in the sea air with her good friend Dotty. But before they can raise their glasses to toast Cressida’s former flame Lord Canterbury's engagement, he drops dead in front of the horrified guests.

The local doctor determines that Lord Canterbury was poisoned, and soon Detective Chief Inspector Andrews is on his way from Scotland Yard. But Cressida is dismayed by the murder of the intrepid explorer who once asked for her hand in marriage, and she cannot simply leave the case to the police. Together with Dotty and her little pug Ruby, Cressida searches for clues only to discover that many of the guests have a motive for murder. Did an irate journalist or a bitter fellow explorer send Lord Canterbury on his untimely final journey?

And when a young maid is found dead, floating in the shimmering waters of the cove, Cressida knows time is running out to catch the killer. Could aclue hidden among some rather pungent crab sandwiches help her solve the case before there is another murder?

A witty and totally addictive cozy mystery packed with intrigue and glamour. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss."

A fancy-dress ball in Cornwall? Yes please!

Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Now tell us about your crime novel. Take my advice and don't try to be intellectual over it. What the public likes is blood."

The Surrays and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of treatises, reviews, and crime thrillers published under their family name. Following a rare convergence of the whole household at their Oxfordshire home, Ruth - middle sister who writes "books which are just books" -  decides to spend some weeks there recovering from the pressures of the writing life, while the rest of the brood scatter to the winds again. Their next return is heralded by the tragic news that Ruth has taken her life after an evening at the Surrays's hosting a set of publishers and writers, one of whom is named as Ruth's literary executor in the will she left behind.

Despite some suspicions from the family, the verdict at the inquest is suicide - but when Ruth's brother Richard receives a letter from the deceased which was delayed in the post, he enlists the help of CID Robert Macdonald to investigate what could only be an ingeniously planned murder."

Poisoned Pen Press delivers again with another forgotten British Crime Classic!

The Sanctuary by Katrine Engberg
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 3536 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From internationally bestselling author Katrine Engberg, the series that is a "gripping addition to the Scandinavian crime fiction pantheon" (Oprah Daily) comes to a stunning conclusion as Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner rush to untangle a long-simmering mystery before a brutal killer strikes again.

Jeppe Kørner, on leave from the police force and nursing a broken heart, has taken refuge on the island of Bornholm for the winter. Also on the island is Esther de Laurenti, a writer working on a biography on a female anthropologist with a mysterious past and coming to terms with her own crushing sense of loneliness in the wake of a dear friend’s death. When Jeppe lends a helping hand at the island’s local sawmill, he begins to realize that the island may not be the peaceful refuge it appears to be.

Back in Copenhagen, Anette Werner is tasked with leading the investigation into a severed corpse discovered on a downtown playground. As she follows the strange trail of clues, they all seem to lead back to Bornholm. With an innocent offer to check out a lead, Jeppe unwittingly finds himself in the crosshairs of a sinister mystery rooted in the past, forcing him to team up with Anette and Esther to unravel the island’s secrets before it’s too late.

With her signature "unforgettable characters and brilliant plot twists" (Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Katrine Engberg weaves a satisfying and white-knuckled finale to her Korner and Werner series that is a modern classic of Scandinavian noir."

When you need to remove yourself in an island refuge, you know things are about to go down.

I'm Not Charlotte Lucas by Kasey Stockton
Published by: Covenant Communications
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Northern California girl Charlotte "Charlie" Lucas has two great loves: Diet Coke and Pride and Prejudice. But her passion for Regency classics is tempered by a very real fear: Charlie is terrified of having to endure the fate of her namesake - spinsterhood. Despite her best attempts to maintain a modern sensibility, she can't say no when an elderly neighbor asks Charlie to attend a charity ball with her grandson. Blind date or not, Charlie is powerless to resist the allure of a real-life ball. Soon it's clear that she will struggle to resist the charms of her blind date too.

Liam Connell is every bit the swoon-worthy leading man, straight out of Charlie's daydreams. But he's completely unattainable - his last girlfriend was a gorgeous actress and a far cry from Charlie's world. So after a magical evening with Liam, Charlie is ready to get back to reality, even if her best option right now is a former boyfriend who wants to give it another shot. Unfortunately, despite imagining she’'l never see Liam again, he seems to be everywhere. How is a lady to move past a fantasy when life suddenly seems to be imitating fiction to an alarming degree?"

I'm sorry, but everyone should EMBRACE the Charlotte Lucas within, and be pragmatic but also hope for love.

Stakes, Cakes and Mandrakes by Colleen Gleason
Published by: Oliver Heber Books
Publication Date: February 7th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 227 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jacqueline Finch and her mystical, magical bookshop is back in this third entry of the bestselling Three Tomes Bookshop series!

Spring is in full swing in lakefront Button Cove, and Jacqueline is embracing her new life - her friends, her new home, the crones down the street, and especially the detective with a hot-Viking vibe. It's not half bad, considering the fact that she has the bickering literary characters of Mrs. Hudson (Sherlock's landlady) and the dour, creepy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca "helping" her to run the bookshop, and her nemesis Egala Stone is opening her own store down the block.

And then there's the handsome new undertaker - er, mortician - who's taken over the town funeral parlor and who has all the women ga-ga over him - including Jacqueline's friends. Things get a little weird when Detective Massermey's daughter seeks out help from Jacqueline, but surely she can handle that...right?

But when an old book falls off the shelf, signaling the arrival of yet another literary character Jacqueline has to deal with, and strange accidents and thefts begin to happen in Button Cove, Jacqueline once again finds herself in a big, fat mess."

Few things make me happier than a new Colleen Gleason book!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anastasia Hastings, Charlie Lane, Cherie Dimaline, Darcy Coates, E.C.R. Lorac, Fliss Chester, Johnny Compton, K.L. Cerra, Kasey Stockton, Katrine Engberg, Kimberly Duffy, Patricia Raybon, Salman Rushdie

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
Published by: Scholastic
Publication Date: February 16th, 2006
Format: Paperback, 216 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It is Enola Holmes's fourteenth birthday and it is sure to be a memorable one. Why you might ask? Because her elderly mother has disappeared. Enola was born long after her famous brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. One might even say indecently late. At least that's why she believes her brothers have avoided the family manse Ferndell and their female relatives for nearly her entire life. She and her mother are nothing more than embarrassments. But why would she choose Enola's birthday to disappear? Perhaps it is the prophecy of the name she gave her only daughter, Enola, which backwards spells alone. After spending her entire birthday confirming that her mother is indeed gone Enola contacts her brothers. She is sure they will be proud of the unique woman her mother has raised her to be. Instead they see a girl half feral who will have to be packed off to school to learn what femininity really is. But Enola is far cleverer than they give her credit for, just like her mother. Her mother had been padding the house accounts with fake expenses and squirreling away the money for just such an occasion as Enola now faces. With a beautiful book coded in the language of flowers Enola finds money secreted about the house, making her quite a wealthy young woman. Now she just needs to sneak out of Ferndell and find her mother and the two of them can ride off into the sunset together, never giving the men a backward glance. She successfully makes it to a distant train station disguised as a widow, thus concealing her features and making her appear older than her fourteen years, when she is distracted by the disappearance of Viscount Tewksbury Basilwether. He's only twelve and wouldn't it be just lovely to not only disappear under her brothers's noses, but also to dramatically solve a kidnapping? Sadly her ego exposes her cunning widow disguise as well as the fact that Tewksbury actually ran away. But reaching London she falls into a different trap not of her own making. One that Tewksbury himself has fallen prey to. Will she be able to escape, find her mother, and find her purpose in life, or is she destined to always be alone?

When the Enola Holmes film came out and took the whole world by storm I was going through a real rough patch in my life. I was having problems concentrating on anything that wasn't the gaping hole of pain I was stuck in. In fact I believe the film was the last thing I watched in my home before we had to move. That little television room had been my sanctuary all my life and the thought of never watching anything in it again was a thought I couldn't bear. So I kind of shut down and just got on with moving, and in particular packing up my books. While packing them up I found a copy of the first book in the Enola Homes series, The Case of the Missing Marquess. In a flash I remembered picking it up at the Scholastic Warehouse when I went with my mom years earlier to help her pick books for her school library. The find seemed serendipitous, so instead of consigning it to a box with other "S" authors I put it in my bag as something I wanted to read in the near future. Given my "to be read pile" it's actually surprising that I got to it in under a year. But I think that was due to the fact that I was invited to be on the blog tour for the release of Nancy Springer's newest Enola adventure, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche. But whatever the reason for my finally reading The Case of the Missing Marquess I'm ecstatic that I finally did. This book and then in turn this series brought something that I needed to my life. It brought wit and historical accuracy and fun! It brought female empowerment and puzzles! I wish this series had existed when I was younger because it was the first offshoot of the Holmes canon since Young Sherlock Holmes that made me love Victorian mysteries again like never before. And let me tell you, I was OBSESSED with Young Sherlock Holmes when I was younger. I can see younger me just reading and rereading these books until my teacher would interject that reading the same book over and over again doesn't count for Book It! And aside from it being a different series this IS something I was told. Yet it's wonderful for the adult reader as well because it's so layered with history and mystery that I just want to live in these books. Bring on more Enola!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alone, Birthday, Book It, Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, Mycroft Holmes, Nancy Springer, Scholastic, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Missing Marquess, Young Sherlock Holmes

I have been a fan of Sherlock Holmes for as long as I can remember but it probably actually dates back to the release of The Great Mouse Detective when I was seven. Back in 2015 as I awaited the return of Sherlock I decided to go all in and finally read all the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle as well as a plethora of books and movies that were Sherlock adjacent. I think there are more adventures set in and around the world that Arthur Conan Doyle created than any other single property out there. Just off the top of my head there's The Irregulars, Murder Rooms, Without a Clue, Arthur and George, Basil of Baker Street, I could go on, but I think pointing out that even Will Ferrell has played Sherlock proves my point better than any list I could ever make. One thing I only lightly touched on in 2015 with Laurie R. King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the whole subgenre of women being at the center of a Holmesian adventure. Be they sisters, siblings, or wives, they are out there in force and one of the fieriest of all is Enola Holmes. My mom was a school librarian so the big treat every year was to go to the Scholastic warehouse and pick out books for the library. I went along to help and as a reward I could pick a few books for myself. This is where I first stumbled on Enola Holmes. I think Nancy Springer's series was actually on the Battle of the Books list that year and I thought the series sounded fun so I snagged a copy of The Case of the Missing Marquess and it languished, forgotten, on my bookshelf until I was moving at the exact same time as the first Enola Holmes movie hit Netflix. I added the book to my pile of books I planned to read that weren't going into storage and the next year when Enola returned to print with her new adventure, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, I not only devoured the whole series but was honored enough to be a part of Nancy Springer's blog tour. Needless to say I am now a devout convert to Enola as I hope you will be too. So join me this February as Enola proves she's just as capable of Sherlocking you as her older brother.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, Nancy Springer, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, Sherlocked: Enola Edition, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case of the Missing Marquess, The Great Mouse Detective