eARC – Page 15 – Carol's Notebook

Bishop to Queen by Lexy Wolfe

July 20, 2020June 11, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I have mixed feelings about Bishop to Queen by Lexy Wolfe. I didn't know it was the second in the series until I started to get this post ready. I did feel like this worked fine as a stand-alone and given the beginning and end of this one, I do wonder how the first fit in, but don't think I'll bother going back to read it. On the one hand, I enjoyed reading Bishop to Queen. I flew through it and maybe put off doing some work to read it instead. It was a fun book that moved along at a good pace. The characters were interesting and amusing if slightly one-dimensional. The idea of what makes a being human and what makes someone "good," while not a new topic in sci-fi, was explored well here. There were a couple of things I didn't like about the book too. First, as I mentioned, the characters were not a multi-dimensional as I could...

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart

May 27, 2020May 29, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart is an old-fashioned mystery, set in early 18th century London. History is poised between the advent of modern science and the superstitions and fantasy of previous eras. Collectors - almost always men - searched the world for things, animal remains, plants, rocks, oddities to showcase in their homes. Or paid others to do the searching for them. They wanted prestige, social status, as much if not more than they wanted to further knowledge. They guarded their treasures, competed with other collectors, and spent much of their time arguing over provenance and ownership. Barnaby Mayne is one of England’s greatest collectors, and his house a confusing, claustrophobic place where anything, even murder, can happen. Honestly, as much as i love funky museums, the Mayne collection seems a bit creepy. Lady Cecily Kay has come to the house to view its plants. There she meets a woman she had known as a child, Meacon, a...

A Study in Murder by Callie Hutton

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed A Study in Murder. It's set in Bath, England in 1890, but features a fairly modern woman. Lady Amy is a mystery writer, although she writes under a pseudonym at her father's insistence and no one, aside from family and one close friend knows she's E.D. Burton. She and her Aunt live at the house in Bath while her father and brother mostly stay in London. She chafes under the restrictions placed on women at the time and counts herself a suffragette. She's twenty-five, not quite a "spinster" but older than most unmarried women, but that gives her the benefit of not actually needing a chaperone when she is out and about. Her Aunt Margaret is also single and a bit rebellious. She's in on Amy's secrets and supports her with a smile. In a cozy mystery, there needs to be a reason the amateur is investigating. In this case, Amy is the main, possibly only, suspect. The...

The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

April 23, 2020April 21, 2020 by Carol1 Comment

I have problems with series ending. Either I love the series and don't want it to end or I get bored with the series and don't make it to the end (which happens more often). Trilogies simplify the issue a little. There's only three, so chances are if I enjoyed the first one I won't have gotten bored yet by the time the third rolls around. On the other hand, there's only three and I want more time in the world with the characters. The Interdependency falls into the second category. I love it and want more. Maybe a follow-up trilogy. Please. First off, don't read The Last Emperox as a stand alone. Read the first and second, in that order. Meet the characters, discover the world, learn the politics, get an idea of the science. (I'm not really sure how scientific the science is, but that's beside the point. Don't worry that this is too sciencey, it's not.) The Last...

The Stolen Letter by Paige Shelton

April 3, 2020February 27, 2020 by Carol3 Comments

The Stolen Letter is the fifth of the Scottish Bookshop Mysteries. I've read all of them, and while you could jump in at this one, you'd miss seeing Delaney, our amateur sleuth, starting her adventure, new in town, to finding a second family at the bookshop, falling in love, and really making her dreams come true. This time around she meets Mary Stewart, a woman who looks almost exactly like her, but 20 years older. Mary believes she's a reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots. I loved how the Queen's story was woven into a current day murder mystery. This series often includes a slight mystical element, but they never, well rarely, jump into the truly paranormal. They are all definitely cozy mysteries, with very real “whodunits.” I love the setting. Delaney works in the mysterious, yet inviting bookshop, The Cracked Spine. I love spending time with Delaney and the other staff of the shop. They are all charming and...

Trace Elements by Donna Leon

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 by Carol6 Comments

I've read many of the Brunetti series, but generally out of order. I like Brunetti. He's a reader and a thinker. He loves Venice, but isn't fond of the heat and the tourists. He's doesn't approve of the corruption but realizes that to some extent it's what makes Venice run. In Trace Elements, Brunetti and Claudia Griffoni are called to the bedside of a dying woman. She tells them that her husband was killed because of the "bad money," but dies before she can tell them more. With no real evidence of a crime, Brunetti and Griffoni start investigating, feeling they owe it to the dead woman. Their clues take them to a water testing lab where perhaps not everything is handled as it should be. The plot was just complicated enough. Of course, we know that it was a murder, it always is in these books, and we know that with Brunetti's perseverance and intuition, he and Griffoni will find...