eBook – Page 18 – Carol's Notebook

The Curse of Braeburn Castle by Karen Baugh Menuhin

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Heathcliff Lennox (please call him Lennox) was in WW 1 and his butler Greggs, with whom he has an entertaining and humorous relationship, was his batman. Now back home, Lennox is having a bit of an adjustment to civilian life. He prefers solitary activities like fishing or walking his dog, Mr. Fogg, in the countryside around his slowly declining estate. However, he has friends and family that can bring him out into the world beyond his gates. Lennox is likable and intelligent, tongue-tied around women, but loyal and honest. The Curse of Braeburn Castle is the third mystery I've read featuring him and may be the best so far. This third one begins when Lennox's newly-married friend, former detective Swift, asks him to come to Braeburn Castle to help with the discovery of a centuries-old skeleton. The discovery of the skeletons has brought a team of archaeologists to the castle, a group Swift doesn't trust, and now the skull and it's...

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes published by Dover Publications

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 16 classic detective stories from the late 19th through the early 20th centuries. The detectives are not so much rivals of Holmes as contemporaries. The collection is centered around when the stories were written, but they come from a variety of regions. I've read a few of the authors before and a couple of the stories, but several were to me. There were even a couple of female detectives, unusual for the era. As with most anthologies, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. The book starts off with "The Great Ruby Robbery" by Grant Allen which was clever and funny, a good combination and a good way to open. "Cinderella's Slipper" by Hugh C. Weir and his Miss Madelyn Mack also stood out for me. I met Max Carrados in "The Coin of Dionysius" by Ernest Braman. He's a blind detective, which is unique. Another, this one from America,...

Left-Handed Death by Richard Hull

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Left-Handed Death is the first of Richard Hull's mysteries I've read. It's got an interesting perspective. We kind of start in the middle of the mystery. Arthur Shergold and Guy Reeves are sitting in their office, discussing recent events, in particular, Reeves' lunch that day with a civil servant from the Ministry, Barry Foster. Foster has become a problem for their company, which deals with contracts for the Ministry of Defence. Neither of them particularly like the man either. The dinner seems to end with Reeves killing Foster in Foster's home, strangling him to death. Later that day, Reeves goes to Scotland Yard and confesses to the crime. Inspector Hardwick isn’t quite ready to accept things at face value, he sets out to prove Reeves innocent. It's an interesting set-up. We know that there's something fishy about Reeves' confession, but not sure quite what? Why would he confess if he hadn't done it? If he did do it, why did...

Grievance in Gingerbread Alley by Leighann Dobbs

December 17, 2019December 16, 2019 by CarolNo Comments

Grievance in Gingerbread Alley is the second of the Christmas Village Cozies. They're both quick fun reads and I read this one right after the first. Gus is on vacation in Christmas Village, playing jazz piano at the North Pole Lounge. She knows Christmas Village can't be as perfect and cheery as it seems. While she's out and about she watches as a protester keels over, obviously poisoned, and she can't help investigating. The woman was protesting the treatment of the birds in Christmas Village: the partridge, French hens, geese, swans, turtle doves. There are lots of suspects in her death with the birds' caretakers and the philandering husband and his mistress, at the top of the list. The problem, at least for Gus, is that the local detective in charge was one of her teachers at the police academy. They apparently never got along well, and not Detective Winters is insisting Gus stay out of the way. So Gus, and...

Cadaver on Candy Cane Lane by Leighann Dobbs

December 17, 2019December 16, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

Cadaver on Candy Cane Lane is a fun, quirky mystery novella. Christmas Village is Christmas village. It's where elves make toys, a pear tree grows in the middle of winter, swans swim in the lake, and reindeer talk. A lot of the activities are for tourists, tourism is big business for Christmas village, but so is toy-making and shipping. Alfie, the murdered elf, was the Union Rep at the toy factory and a strike was on the horizon. There are a lot of feelings, and motives, on both sides of the issue. Our amateur detective is Ember from Dobbs' Silver Hollow series, which I haven't read. The idea of the mash-up is cute and I didn't feel like I missed anything from not having read the other. Ember is sweet and trying to prove that she is a good detective too. She's in Christmas village helping her aunt Phoebe, the candy lady, get enough stock ready for the holidays, and one...

The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories edited by Martin Edwards

December 11, 2019December 11, 2019 by CarolNo Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed the storied in The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Each short story/mystery is set around Christmas, but aside from that one connecting feature, it's a great variety, from typical whodunnits, to spy stories, to a ghost story. The stories are as follows: "A Christmas Tragedy" by Baroness Orczy "By the Sword" by Selwyn Jepson "The Christmas Card Crime" by Donald Stuart "The Motive" by Ronald Knox "Blind Man's Hood" by Carter Dickson "Paul Temple's White Christmas" by Francis Durbridge "Sister Bessie" or "Your Old Leech" by Cyril Hare "A Bit of Wire Pulling" by E.C.R. Lorac "Pattern of Revenge" by John Bude "Crime at Lark Cottage" by John Bingham "'Twixt the Cup and the Lip" by Julian Symons Most of the authors were new to me, but there wasn't really a bad one in the bunch. Granted, some are better than others, as in any collection, but there's...