Book Reviews – Carol's Notebook

The Devil in Oxford by Jess Armstrong

December 22, 2025December 22, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I love the Ruby Vaughan series. The 1920s setting, the characters, the touch of the paranormal, along with well plotted mysteries, keep me engrossed. This time around Ruby and her employer/father-figure, Mr. Owen, are spending the holidays in Oxford at a a meeting of antiquarians. In addition to her duties for Mr. Owen, Ruby is spending time catching up with an old friend, Leona. When local curiosity museum owner Julius Harker doesn’t show up for a planned presentation of Egyptian artifacts and is instead found murdered, Ruby gets pulled into the investigation. Leona, it seems, was close to both Harker and the man arrested for his murder, his business partner Herr Mueller. The mystery was good enough. We have several possible culprits, and since we didn't know a lot of these cast of side characters from the previous books, we don't know who to trust. Ruan is in town too, at Ruby's (written when drunk) invitation, but his support is of course...

The Mistletoe Murder Club by Katie Marsh

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025 by Carol3 Comments

I picked up The Mistletoe Murder Club, knowing it's the fourth book in the series and I haven't read any of the others. I am a sucker for a Christmas mystery and this one looked fun. The author did a good job of giving enough background without over explaining. Clio, Amber, and Jeanie are a fun team, but maybe rely more on luck and guesses than actual investigating. Clio is in a Christmas pantomime directed by the famous actress, Beatrice Butler. Unfortunately, there is tension among the cast members and Beatrice is not a nice person. When she ends up dead it's not surprising, the question is which one of them was angry enough to kill her. Detective Marco Santini is leading the investigation, but of course the women are determined to solve it. We have plenty of suspects and clues and the twist was decent. I'm not sure I'll bother going back and reading others in the series, but this...

Mistletoe Murders 4 by Ken Cuperus

December 16, 2025December 16, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

Emily is back in town, and of course back to solving murders. She's been gone a year and some things have changed - Sam has a new girlfriend, Violet is at college, and some things haven't- like the diner's black coffee. Each audiobook has three separate novellas and each one is fun and has a bit of suspense. The mysteries are (mostly)self-contained but there is an over-arching storyline that deals with Emily's past. We of course end on a cliff-hanger, which I do find annoying. I will listen to the next one - I don't need a cliff-hanger to guarantee it. Actually, by the time next December rolls around, I'll probably need reminded what was going on anyway....

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

December 15, 2025December 15, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Needless to say, my family does not sit around the (electric) fire telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve - although I did make my friends play Snapdragons on New Years one year. I do think A Christmas Carol might be the perfect Christmas ghost story and who better to tell it than Tim Curry? We all know the story - Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, if you don't count Marley, on Christmas Eve and turns his life around. It's a spooky and funny and just a good story. I think I reread it most Decembers or watch one of the movie versions....

The King’s Ransom by Janet Evanovich

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

The King's Ransom is fun in an over-the-top way. Gabriella Rose is adept at finding things, usually for insurance companies or private individuals who are paying her. This time around her ex-husband, Rafer, and his charming but slightly dumb cousin Harley need her help. Harley was acting as a bank president and part of his job involved insuring priceless artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone and a golden Egyptian coffin, at his Board's suggestion. But when the artifacts are stolen, and it looks like Harvey may take the fall for the thefts, Rafer convinces Gabriella that it's up them to find the artifacts and save Harvey's life. The adventure takes us from New York City to London to Cairo to Florida to Italy. We've got plenty of action, murder, corruption, threats, kidnapping, and a fun conspiracy. We got some sparks between Rafer and Gabriella but they both realize they're better off not married. We also meet a handsome, enigmatic Egyptian man...

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Full Speed to a Crash Landing is just a fun little book. When we first meet Ada, she is alone on her ship Glory which has a hole in its side and she has less than an hour of oxygen left in her suit. She knows there's a ship in range to rescue her but they haven't answered her distress call yet. Eventually, the other ship does answer and lets her onboard, but there is plenty of tension. Ada was salvaging a wrecked ship, but the government salvage crew, especially leader Rian, is suspicious and doesn't want her knowing what was onboard the wreck. I listened to the audio. Most of the chapters are from Ada's first person point of view and I felt like the narrator caught her personality well. She's clearly smart and resourceful - she has to be to run a salvage operation on her on. She's also a bit quirky and good at banter. What she isn't is...