book-reviews
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“Welcome to Hammes Castle. You’ll never leave alive.” A prequel novella in the Tudor Bastard Series, the story follows John de Vere, the Earl of Oxford who is imprisoned in Hammes Castle. Battles and politics, friendship and enmity, and fluid, descriptive language transport the reader back in time to the raw, gritty Tudor era of…
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Virginia Farrell is a journalist and long-time jazz enthusiast and mystery fan. Betty Brown, a former jazz singer, reveals the existence of a box full of priceless, thought-to-be-lost stolen jazz tapes from the 1950s, asking Virginia to ensure that they are returned to their rightful owner. But before Virginia can act, Betty Brown is murdered,…
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Four women linked through decades. Three now vanished. When Ethel Dockery reports her three bridge friends missing, only DI Ryan Hale and DS Fiona Winter take her seriously. They are only reluctantly allowed to investigate as Ethel is the superintendent’s mother, but once Ryan and Fiona begin to look into the case, they find that…
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Book 2 in the Francine Witt Mystery series. Bottled Up resumes the action where book 1, Full Bodied ended, with Francine Witt on a mission to tell the story of Penelope Radcliffe, archaeologist and grandmother of Rosalind Downing, who is accompanying Francine as her research assistant. As the two of them begin to look into…
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Book 1 in the Francine Witt Mystery series. A fun, cozy, wine and Egyptology themed mystery with a surprisingly deep message of feminism and representation. Francine Witt is a wine blogger dreaming of a career in “real” journalism while posting budget wine recommendations and blogging about the shenanigans of two wine thieves who time and…
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A good historical mystery is like a time machine, transporting the reader from the present to a completely different era. If the idea of a literary trip to the Victorian era intrigues you, try one or all of these cozy mystery series set in Victorian London. Relaxing, funny and light-hearted, these books are perfect for…
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Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, known as Georgie to her friends, is a cousin of King George V of England and 35th in line to the throne. Unfortunately her family has fallen on hard times, and as Georgie refuses to marry for anything but love, she is basically penniless. Determined to fend for herself without…
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Book 1 in the Veronica Speedwell series. Miss Veronica Speedwell is not your typical Victorian-era lady. Orphaned at a young age and brought up by two spinster sisters, Veronica is a lepidopterist with scandalously modern ideas of women’s independence, and even her love of butterflies comes from a desire for freedom. A young lady should…
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Book 1 in the Dr. Laszlo Kreizler #1 series. Prior to the twentieth century, persons suffering from mental illness were thought to be “alienated” not only from the rest of society but from their own true natures. Those experts who studied mental pathologies were therefore known as alienists. A dark, historical, psychological thriller exposing the…
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The Cat Who… is a series of 29 cozy mystery books by Lillian Jackson Braun. Book 1, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards was published in 1966. The books follow the adventures of Jim Qwilleran or Qwill, a journalist and amateur sleuth, and his Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. Qwilleran was once a crime…
Mostly Murders 