NetGalley – Page 2 – Carol's Notebook

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

February 25, 2025February 25, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I can't tell you why I picked up Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. I don't read a lot of horror, I avoid serial killers, and I haven't been reading many pandemic books. But it was fabulous, in a gory, violent, haunting way. It's Summer, 2020 in New York City. In the opening scene, 24-year-old Cora Zeng and her sister Delilah are waiting for the subway when a man appears just as the train approaches. He calls Delilah a "bat eater" and pushes her onto the tracks. She is killed by the train and the man is never caught. resulting in her brutal death before Cora's eyes. Unfortunately, the man escapes. The second chapter picks up a few months later. Cora is now working as a crime scene cleaner, a job that fits Cora and her need for cleanliness well, but a disturbing number of the jobs have been cleaning the apartments of murdered Asian women. It's also Ghost...

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, 2025April 1, 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...

A Victim at Valentine’s by Ellie Alexander

February 6, 2025February 6, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Secret Bookcase Mysteries is one of those series with an overarching plot that hasn't been resolved yet. That is both my least favorite thing about the series and why this one doesn't work well as a stand-alone. Annie's best friend, Scarlet, was killed over a decade ago, but Annie has some new information and is working on solving the cold case. I'm just not a fan of those overarching mysteries. Annie's works full-time at a bookstore, where part of her job is coordinating events. For Valentine's Day, the store has teamed up with a matchmaker for a weekend of books and romantic events. Early the morning of the second day, a well-liked member of the community is found dead near the store. While the event continues as planned, Annie is determined to help the local detective, Dr. Caldwell, discover who the killer is. The mystery is fine. The plot moves along well. We have three potential suspects and a few...

A Death in Diamonds by S. J. Bennett

February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

I've read this series from the beginning and thoroughly enjoy seeing Queen Elizabeth II as an amateur sleuth. She knows people well and has access to a lot of information but needs her assistant private secretary to do most of the legwork. This time around we've gone back in time to the late 50s. It's early in the Queen's reign and she has two young children. She and Prince Phillip have been married about 10 years and their marriage has more stressors than most, one being that a club Prince Phillip attends has been connected to a murder. Joan, the assistant private secretary, is bold, resourceful, and intelligent. She is the only one the Queen can truly trust, since in addition to the murder case, they are trying to figure out which of the Queen's advisors has been attempting to sabotage her trips abroad. The peeks into royal life are fun. The queen visits a few other countries in this one and...

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...