Mystery – Page 3 – Carol's Notebook

Death Comes in Through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage

May 31, 2024May 31, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

I was looking for a book set in Cuba when I ran across Death Comes in Through the Kitchen. It sounded like one I would enjoy - an interesting setting, an interesting main character, and Cuban food. I ended up being disappointed. Matt arrives in Havana to meet his Cuban fiancée, Yarmila, hopefully get married and persuade her to return with him to the States. Things go down hill immediately when he finds Yarmila dead in her apartment He becomes a suspect in her murder and the authorities believe he may be an American spy. We see most of the story from Matt's viewpint.. He's pretty clueless really, about Yarmila's death, but also about life in Cuba. We also get to see the case, and Cuba, from Detective Martinez's point of view. She's in charge of the official investigation, but she's not getting much cooperation from the other people involved. And finally, we have El Padrino, a former police officer turned...

Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge

May 30, 2024May 30, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

Murder at Mallowan Hall takes us to the fictionalized home of author Agatha Christie and her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. I will admit to being a huge Christie fan, which is why this series caught my eye. Our amateur sleuth is the housekeeper, Phyllida Bright, who is extremely competent at her job. She is the one who finds the body in the library. The murdered man was an uninvited guest at the Mallowans' house party, and Phyllida questions whether local police are capable of solving the crime. So, between serving the demanding guests and managing the nervous staff, she starts investigating on her own. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this one - not the guests, but the staff. Phyllida is shrewd and charming. The butler has his own views on the way things should be run, but has her back when push comes to shove. The chauffeur is a good foil for Phyllida - irreverent, mysterious, always getting...

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

May 29, 2024May 29, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

At some point in the future, a fog, probably man-made, covers the whole globe. The fog is filled with tiny insects that devour any living thing they come in contact with, including humans. The only safe place is an island protected by a some kind of shield where 122 villagers and three scientists/elders live. It's a peaceful place where everyone has their jobs and knows their place. Until one of the scientists is murdered causing the shield to go down. If the murder isn't solved and the killer executed within 92 hours, the fog will engulf the island. The narrator is Abi, the artificial intelligence who knows everything that goes on on the island and controls most of it. She is also the one who wiped everyone's memory. The thing about Abi is that she has a job, she has commands she must follow. So even though she knows all and sees all, she doesn't share everything with the reader or...

Murder at Ravenswood House by Louise Marley

May 13, 2024May 12, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

We first met Milla Graham and DI Ben Taylor in Murder a Raven's Edge and saw the beginnings of their rather complicated relationship. So we're not surprised that at the beginning of Murder at Ravenswood House, Milla is meeting a friend/ex-boyfriend, rockstar Lorcan Black, in the evening at his house without letting Ben know. And when she runs into a problem, it's not Ben she turns to but rather PI Kieran Drake to help clean up the mess. But when a woman's headless body is found in the pond and Lorcan is discovered asleep on a crypt covered in blood, it will be tough to keep anything secret. This time around Ben's family and history are at the forefront. Ben has tried for years to distance himself from his rather notorious family, but this case is bringing them all back together. I love the characters, Ben, of course, is dealing with his own past while trying to figure out what's going...

The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

The Devil’s Flute Murders is set in 1947, as Japan continues its slow recovery from WWII. A young woman, Mineko, asks Kindaichi for help. Mineko's father, Viscount Tsubaki, was found dead, apparently of suicide, but it seems that his ghost is haunting their family, especially her mother Akiko. It turns into a complex case with multiple murders, questions of ghostly visitation, a family history that must be explored, and many family members, friends, and servants living on the estate grounds. It's an atmospheric mystery, with the potential ghost, spooky music, even bad weather all playing into the feeling. The book is also full of period detail. Following the war, Japan is dealing with a lot, including planned blackouts, crowded trains with hard to obtain tickets, food shortages, and bombed and lost homes, some of which contribute to the plot. I listened to the audio. The narrator did a good job with the pronunciations and accents, as far as I could tell, and...

Murder at Raven’s Edge by Louise Marley

May 9, 2024May 2, 2024 by Carol1 Comment

I truly enjoyed Murder at Raven's Edge. Milla Graham has returned to her childhood home for reasons of her own. At the same time, Inspector Ben Graham has a case which may be linked to the death of Milla's mother, Rosemary, 18 years ago. But is Milla really Milla Graham? Milla was presumed to have died in a fire the same night her mother was killed. Things get more complicated when Ben realizes he ight be falling in love with Milla, who lies as easily as breathing but is so likeable. She's a member of a wealthy family but feels very much alone. Ben is a divorced cop who doesn't always play by the rules, but is also uncomfortable straying too far from them. He's also very competent at his job and has learned when to trust his instincts. The setting was interesting. It's a quirky, small English town, but this one leans into its witchy history. The book just worked really...