The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett

by Carol2 Comments
I love vintage mysteries, a bit old-fashioned, no gratuitous sex or violence. They're comfort reads for me. I read a short story by Arnold Bennett in Resorting to Murder from Poisoned Pen Press and enjoyed it, so I picked up the free Kindle version of The Grand Babylon Hotel and I'm glad I did. It's a light mystery, but full of intrigue and adventure and a plucky young woman who's not afraid of a bit of danger. The hotel was an interesting setting. The Babylon is a quite distinguished hotel and often hosts royalty, which is what leads to the sequence of events here. An equerry (an officer of a royal household who attends or assists members of the royal family) is found murdered. His body disappears. A prince fails to arrive for an important meeting in the hotel.  Rackham learns that his stellar staff is perhaps not quite as above-board as they appear. The story is a bit over the...
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Early Bird Special by Tracy Krimmer

by Carol1 Comment
I don't go Black Friday shopping, or Thanksgiving Day shopping for that matter, but I thought reading this short story that starts off with Francie and her family in line in the cold waiting for the store to open on Thanksgiving would fit the day. I know "Early Bird Special" is a short story, but at the end I was left with a "that's it?" feeling. I like Francie. Her parents seem nice enough and her brother has the potential to be interesting, but there were too many things brought up and just left off. I would have enjoyed it more if Krimmer had had a bit more time to develop the characters and story. I wanted a romance and I ended up with a woman deciding she needs to give men, and one in particular, a chance, which is not the same thing. I did enjoy it though. It was cute, it just didn't have that complete feeling I'm looking for...
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