eARC – Carol's Notebook

The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird

February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I guess we need to look at The Serpent Under in a few different ways. First, Victorian London. MacBird does a fabulous job of bringing the foggy, damp, crowded city to life. We see the people, issues, and prejudices of the time. Second, our main characters. Holmes and Watson feel like the originals, if that makes sense. They have the mannerisms and partnership they always have. Yes, Holmes' attitudes towards women, Roma, etc. are more modern, but he was never conventional. And here it particularly works well since it doesn't allow him to just go along with the easy solution. We only get brief glances of Lestrade and Mycroft, which is appropriate. Heffie, a former irregular who now works with the police, is a good addition. She's tough and reliable and very good at working undercover. The dead woman's family and friends are all a bit odd and she seems to have been the only truly likeable one of the bunch. Plot...

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Annie Adams has been living at Gravesdown Estate for several months. She inherited the mansion and land when she solved the murder of her great aunt Frances. That mystery is covered in the first book of the series and I think you almost need to have read How to Solve Your Own Murder in order to understand the history and relationships in this one. It's a small town full of secrets and gossip, and just because you've known someone your whole life doesn't mean you can trust them. Annie is already feeling unsettled - the house is big and cold, the townspeople are not overly friendly, when she meets Peony Lane, the fortune-teller whose prediction guided most of Frances' life. Peony has a fortune for Annie, but she won't tell it unless asked. She also gives Annie some advice about looking into a decades old accident. Not much later, Peony is found dead, murdered in Annie's solarium. Annie, of course, gets wrapped...

The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea by C. L. Miller

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea is the second in the series and it's probably better to read them in order. You'll get a better feel for the characters and why Freya ends up in her current position. We learned in the first book that Freya and her Aunt Carole inherited Arthur Crockleford's antique shop when he was murdered. They are also trying to continue his project of hunting down stolen treasurers and making sure they're returned to their rightful owners. Freya and Carole have officially founded “The Lockwood Antique Hunter’s Agency,” and the first case that comes their way is a painting that was stolen from a small semi-local Maritime Museum was stolen. The police are concentrating on the murder that accompanied the theft and the museum volunteer is afraid the painting will be forgotten. It turns out Arthur had donated the painting to the museum, making it even more interesting to Carole and Freya. The two follow...

Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss

January 23, 2025January 23, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Curds & Whey has only been open two years and Willa needs to solve a sixth murder. Willa's ex-fiancé, Pierce, and his partner, Willa's former best friend, Riley, have opened a pop-up chocolate shop in the town's revamped bakery. Willa is, reasonably in my opinion, angry that the pair has chosen her town for their newest store, but when a reporter is killed by poisoned chocolates, she knows she's not guilty, even if the police chief isn't so sure. I felt a little bad for the character who got killed. We met him, saw he was pushy, and then he was dead. There was never much consideration that he was even the intended victim. The reader has several suspects to look at, although Willa would rather not believe any of them are guilty. And was destroying the business's reputation the point, or was someone trying to kill AJ, the newspaper editor, or Willa herself? Turns out Pierce is not a very...

The Secret of the Three Fates by Jess Armstrong

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

The Secret of the Three Fates picks up a few months after the first in the series, The Curse of Penryth Hall, in October of 1922. This one probably works as a stand alone, but you'll have a much better feel for the characters and appreciate what we learn about their backgrounds here. This time around, Mr. Owen and Ruby are at a remote manor house in Scotland, supposedly to purchase illuminated manuscripts. Mr. Owen, however, has lied to Ruby and the two of them are actually there to attend a séance- Mr. Owen is hoping to speak to his son, Ben, who died in the War. The séance, hosted by three mediums going by the name of The Three Fates, is frighteningly real. One of the mediums, seemingly possessed by a spirit, delivers an ominous message: There’s nowhere on earth you can hide from the dead. We have not forgotten … we shall not forgive. The dead know what...

Murder at Raven’s Hollow by Louise Marley

January 12, 2025January 13, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I love visiting Raven’s Edge, a lovely English village that leans into its history and folklore. The series is a bit cozy, a bit police procedural, and a bit Gothic. This time around, DS Harriet March and DI Ben Taylor are called in when a skeleton is discovered behind the florists. Actually, Harriet is already on the scene- she rents the apartment upstairs. Of course, the discovery leads to the reopening of a cold case involving a man who was reported missing over 25 years ago. At the same time, Iris Evergreen, a novelist with a mysterious past, has moved into Raven’s Hollow, a fascinating old mansion, and is asking questions around town about a photo of a man she found in her dead mother's belongings. Murder at Raven's Hollow focuses on Harriet. The case is intricately connected Harriet's past and her family and what she has always believed about her father. But Iris too is connected. We get glimpses of...