Carol – Page 58 – Carol's Notebook

For Richer, For Deader by Helen Golden

November 20, 2022November 16, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

For Richer, For Deader is the second mystery featuring Lady Beatrice and Perry Juke, who is now her business partner. If you haven't read Spruced Up for Murder, you should go back and read it first. It will give you a better feel for the characters and for how much Lady Bea has grown over the last few months. She's a widow with a teenage son, but she's finally come out of her self-imposed isolation. She and Perry are working on an interior design project at the Lodge at Fawstead Manor. The Lodge will be the UK base for Sybil and Otis Trotman once they are married. By now, it looks like the wedding may have to be called off. Threats are being found around the manor house, dead animals accompanied by notes demanding that the wedding stop. However, when one of the visitors is found dead, everyone realizes just how dangerous the situation is. Lady Bea and Perry decide to...

Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon

November 18, 2022November 30, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

The Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon starts today and runs through November 30. That’s 12 days of reading holiday or winter-themed books. Mine will probably mostly be mysteries. Nothing beats a good country house mystery where the party is snowed in for the holidays. If you want to join in, head over to the sign up post at Caffeinated Reviewer. There will be challenges and prizes. I’ll keep my updates here, with (hopefully) links to my reviews. I’m also on instagram. The hashtag is #HoHoHoRAT. Books/ Novellas finished: Frozen Detective by Amanda Flower Candy Cane Conspiracy by Cate Lawley The Case of the Disappearing Beaune by J. Lawrence Matthews The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case by Edward Marston...

Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict

November 17, 2022November 17, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

It's the night before Christmas Eve, and the sleeper train to Fort William leaves Euston with a number of passengers on board, including a killer, a stowaway, and former Met detective Roz Parker. The first part of the book introduces us to all the characters. In addition to Roz, we have a widely varied group, including a social media influencer and her boyfriend, a reality tv "star"; four students competing for a place in a quiz team; a couple traveling with their four children; a lawyer; an elderly woman and her son; and of course the train crew. Somewhere after Edinburgh, in heavy snow, the train is derailed, and shortly afterward, one of the passengers is found dead. I love a good closed-circle mystery, especially one set around Christmas. MurderOne of the people on the train is a killer, that's clear, especially when there's a second death. Of course, several of the passengers have secrets, worries, and, in true...

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2023

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 by Carol35 Comments

I’m thrilled to be hosting the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge again. I love mystery and crime novels! Challenge Rules: You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres. You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.) Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge. Books need to be at least 100 pages long. Please no short stories. Crossovers with other challenges are fine. The Challenge will run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends March 15th) We still have our facebook group so if you haven’t joined we would love for you to! Here’s the group’s link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/. It’s a closed group so just ask to join and we’ll let you in. There will be a monthly link-up so we can see what everyone’s reading – and probably add some...

All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon

November 14, 2022November 10, 2022 by Carol1 Comment

If you read the blurb above, you know why I picked up All Dressed Up. It's set around a 1920s theme murder mystery weekend at a wonderfully atmospheric hotel. So there's the fake murder to solve, that of songstress Ida Crooner, but then one of the staff doesn't show up for work. Becca is worried something may have happened to the young woman, but no one else seems concerned. It should have been fabulous. Each of the guests is given a character to play along with a dossier of information and instructions. We have clues for the weekend and clues to the real crime. It's complicated but in a way that could have been fun. Instead, we spend way too much time reading about Becca and Blake's marriage trouble. And the other guests' marriages for that matter. I'm here for the mystery, not the side drama. And quite honestly, I was a little mad at the author for making me annoyed...

The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker

November 11, 2022November 9, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

The Enigma of Room 622 is the first of Dicker's works I've read. I think I saw it on one of those must-read mysteries of this month lists. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. I feel like I missed some of it because of my unfamiliarity with the author, who has fictionalized himself as one of the characters in this story within a story (within a story). A. Joël has come to a hotel to refresh after a bad breakup and the death of his editor. The hotel does not have a room 622. He and Scarlett, a woman he meets at the hotel, decide to investigate what happened in room 622. Apparently, it has to do with the Ebezner Bank, Switzerland's largest private bank, and the banquet that had been held at the hotel years before. B. (Joël's story based on what he and Scarlett learn) Macaire Ebezner and Lev Levovitch are both poised to take over the...