Book Reviews – Page 92 – Carol's Notebook

Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case by Kristen Painter

October 31, 2020October 30, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

I'm not quite ready for winter/Christmas reads yet, but maybe I am. Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case hit just the right note for this time of year for me. Jayne Frost, winter elf and niece of Santa Claus, is sent from the North Pole to Nocturne Falls, where supernaturals can live as they are because Halloween is celebrated every day of the year. She is there to investigate a series of disappearances in one of the Santa's toy stores. Several elf employees have left, supposedly quit, but with no trace of them afterward. A little bit of Halloween, a little bit of Christmas, some magic a good mystery - it's a cute book. The mystery is not terrible complicated but the clues are well-done and there are a couple possible suspects. The characters are fun. Jayne loved Dr. Pepper and all things sweet, which I can definitely relate to. She's nice and friendly and determined. She makes a few...

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

The Haunting of Hill House is more eerie than scary. Jackson's writing is so tight and so descriptive in ways that make you think about ordinary things, like houses, differently. The plot itself is not outstanding, maybe because it's almost become a template of haunted house stories. Three people, Eleanor, Theodora and Luke, are invited to stay in a supposedly haunted house for the summer to aid a scientist, Dr. Montague, in his pursuit of paranormal investigation. We some started banging, laughs, cold spots, a ghostly scene, but really the story is about Eleanor. We see this world through her eyes. Eleanor's eyes. She is insecure, introverted, and often finds herself fantasizing about her current and future situations. She's not a reliable narrator to any extent. Eleanor is affected by the house more than any of the others. While they all see and feel some of the manifestations, but some she only hears and others are directed at her by...

Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

October 27, 2020October 29, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Told by an unknown narrator, the story is focused on a "secret" of a woman named Lady Audley and the ultimate revelation of what that secret is. While you may think relatively soon into the book that you know Lady Audley's Secret, that the author has told us, you'd be wrong. The secret remains closely guarded right u to the time it is confessed by Lady Audley. I will be honest, though, the secret is not the strong part of the book. She lays down clues and throws hints here and there without giving way too much and keeping the secret well-guarded until the time is right for a confession by Lady Audley. I enjoyed the writing. The descriptions of the settings and characters put you there with them. I listened to Lady Audley's Secret just after The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. They were written around the same time and both "sensational" novels, but this one felt tighter to...

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

Walter Hartright, is walking down the street, his mind absorbed with his own problems, when suddenly a woman, dressed in white appears. She is clearly scared, and he walks with her toward London, eventually putting her in a cab and seeing her off. Shortly thereafter he is informed by two men who are chasing her that she had escaped from an asylum. And that's all we see of the lady in white for now. Hartright is left with a mystery. He takes a job as a drawing master, instructing two half-sisters as different as night and day. One is fair, and one is dark. One is pretty, and one is…well…unattractive. Marian is brave, brilliant, and resourceful, a marvelous character given the time period. Marian can hold her own. Hartright, of course, falls in love with Laura Fairlie, the fair and beautiful one, an heiress, an orphan, a woman in need of protection. Unfortunately, she is engaged to Sir Percival Glyde....

The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis

October 14, 2020October 14, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

This is the first Domestic Diva Mystery I've read. I won it from Krista Davis' Facebook page, and it's a perfect read for this time of year. The fact that I jumped in with #5 in the series. The characters were introduced well and we're given enough backstory to get to know how people fit together, but not so much that it's boring. The Diva Haunts the House has everything I want in a seasonal cozy. Halloween is present on almost every page, including costume parties, haunted houses, holiday recipes (included in the back of the book), and ideas for decorating and party-planning at the beginning of each chapter. We've got a cast of entertaining, quirky characters, including several suspects, and even a couple of adorable pets. There were a lot of kids in this one. They were all 12-year olds and they did help move the plot along and kept it entertaining; I just don't really enjoy reading about kids...

An Old Money Murder in Mayfair by Sara Rosett

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Olive is staying at the home of her school friend, Gigi, and enjoying the champagne lifestyle of the ‘bright young things’ of the 1920s while employed to look into Gigi's grandmother's fears that someone is trying to hurt her. Of course, grandmother does end up being killed, and several people have motives, not the least of whom is Gigi. If her grandmother did change her will like she threatened, it would be Gigi who was left out in the cold. I enjoy this series. The regular characters feel like old friends and the plots are entertaining. I adore all the 1920s details - the fashion, etiquette, and colloquialism. It also paints a good picture of the gap between the servants, the upper class who have money, and the upper class who don't, like Olive. This feels in a lot of ways like a vintage mystery. It's an easy read, without any real violence or graphic scenes. It's well-written and the solution was...