Liza Tully: The Forty-Year Grudge

by

Merritt & Blunt #2

Two books in, this has already become a favorite series. Everything about this series sparkles – the characters, the storytelling, and the setting.  The two central characters are 60 something Aubrey Merritt, a world-renowned private investigator, and her young, green, recently married assistant, Olivia Blunt (who, it must be said, does the lion’s share of the work).  Blunt is in training to become a detective but so far Merritt is a bit scornful of her talents.  She is eager, thorough, and good at research, however, and she arrives at the solution at *almost* the same time Aubrey does. read more

Lee Hollis: The Chowder House Murder

by

Series debut: Downeast Maine

The brother sister team that is Lee Hollis begins a new series with The Chowder House Murder. Halibut Cove, Maine, is the home to the Holbrook family: Audrey Holbrook, her mother Jill, and her grandmother Maggie are the heroines of this cozy. All three women have very different lives. Audrey works at The Chowder House and aspires to own her own business one day, creating delicious recipes for everyone in Halibut Cove to enjoy. Jill is the chief of police and is determined to dole out justice to anyone causing grief in her town. Maggie is retired from the family chowder dynasty, but well known and loved around Halibut, having her fingers in a bunch of different pies and a social circle that spans the entire town. read more

G.M.Malliet: The Bedridden Detective and The Daughter of Time

by

I stumbled across G.M. Malliet’s write up of Tey’s classic, The Daughter of Time, on goodreads, and she agreed to share it with us.  Malliet, of course, is the gifted creator of the St. Just and Max Tudor books, among others.  She’s a lover of golden age mystery fiction – The Daughter of Time being a prominent example – and a perpetrator herself in continuing that tradition, with her own modern updates to the form.  Read on!

What if the most gripping mystery you ever read involved no car chases, no shootouts, and a detective who literally cannot get out of bed? That’s the premise of The Daughter of Time – and it works brilliantly. read more

Danielle Postel-Vinay: Murder Most Delicious

by

Series Debut

There are several ways to judge a book.  If three are present – plot, character, and setting – the book (to me) is good, if not great.  The x factor is prose style.  This novel has three excellent elements – character, setting and lovely prose.  The plot is OK and I figured out whodunnit long before the last page, but the prose just sings as does the setting of the novel, and I was carried away.

That setting is a tiny Paris neighborhood, Gros-Caillou, abutting the Eiffel Tower. The arrival of American sommelier Olivia Beech to a local anchor restaurant, Chez Jacques, is something of a sensation, becoming even more so when, during a wine tasting, the eponymous Jacques falls dead at Olivia’s feet.  While Olivia has been gifted with an extraordinary “nose” for wine, covid has taken away her sense of taste, which for a sommelier is a disaster.  Surfacing from a career crisis in an attempt to reclaim her life, she’s pinned her hopes on a resurrection at Chez Jacques. read more

Shaina Steinberg: Echoes of Infamy

by

Bishop & Gallagher #3

I usually have no problem catching up with a series when I begin with a later instalment, but due to the complex backstories of the characters in this one, I found myself having to peruse a synopsis of the first two books to figure things out. It’s set in 1948 Los Angeles, and the main characters, Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, met during the war working as OSS agents.  In this novel, they’ve finally married and Evelyn has taken over the family aeronautics company, while Nick is working as a private eye. read more

Paula Sutton: The Body in the Kitchen Garden

by

Hill House Vintage #2

Ninety-six years after Miss Marple made her first appearance in the village of St. Mary Meade, The Body in the Kitchen Garden demonstrates that the gentle English village mystery genre is still going strong.  Like Agatha Christie, the legendary creator of Miss Marple, modern practitioners of the British village mystery- writers like Connie Berry, G.M. Malliet, and most recently Katarina Bivald – find the depths of human emotion and depravity lurking not far below the surface of this seemingly idyllic setting.  Sutton has further updated the formula with the provocative move of having her detective be the only black woman in town. read more

Craig Johnson: The Brothers McKay

by

Walt Longmire #22

It’s no secret that Walt Longmire loves literature; so does his creator Craig Johnson. The Longmire books are filled with literary references and allusions but The Brothers McKay is a straight-up homage to Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. As a mystery lover, I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t read Dostoevsky’s classic but it’s not required reading to understand and enjoy Walt’s latest adventure.

Like The Brothers Karamazov, The Brothers McKay is about the murder of a despicable man (Pepper McKay) and his four sons, all suspects in his murder. At stake is the ownership of the O-Kay Lodge, a lucrative resort/dude ranch built at the turn of the previous century. Without giving anything away, suffice to say the relationships of the four brothers are complicated and Walt uncovers lots of secrets and past discord. Complicating the investigation is the fact that one brother is a monk being visited by his Elder Bishop, Abbot Deputy, and a novice of their order, thereby increasing the suspect pool. But are the monks actually suspects? As in Dostoevsky’s novel, these characters lead a lot of interesting philosophical discussions about God and morality, an important theme of the story. read more

Elizabeth Penney: Dungeons and Danger

by

Ravensea Castle #2

Above the village of Monkwell, Yorkshire, sits Ravensea Castle, home of the Asquith family since 1138. The current family includes herbalist Nora, her sister popular TV actress Tamsyn, mead-brewer brother Will, amateur historian and father Arthur, Rolf the English Mastiff, Ruffian the cat, and several ghosts, including the ghost of ancestor Sir Percival. What more could one ask for in a castle-turned-B&B?

It’s almost Halloween and Will is hosting a Viking Fest at the castle to promote his mead. Hundreds of visitors in Viking costumes turn up, along with actual B&B guests: a history professor (with the hilariously appropriate name of Tweedy) and a group of ghost hunters filming an episode of Britain’s Got Ghosts (just in time for ghostly Halloween appearances). Tweedy convinces Arthur to let him search Ravensea for a lost Viking treasure while the ghost hunters hope to capture images of the ghost of Rusla, a Viking shield maiden known to haunt the battlements. read more

Krista Davis: The Diva Hosts a Murderer

by

Domestic Diva Mysteries  #19 

It’s the 4th of July in Old Town, VA and Sophie Winston has a houseful of family and friends to entertain for the holiday. Between historical tours of Old Town and Washington, DC, holiday events, and lots of delicious meals, trouble arises when neighbor Dollie Peabody reports finding a body in her yard – but when the police arrive the body is gone. Did she imagine it and does she also imagine the voices and other noises she claims to hear in her house at night? And what’s up with Aunt Mellie’s new hubby Gus, whom she impetuously married during a trip to Las Vegas? Why does his friend Stan tag along for a family vacation at Sophie’s? And just who is Sophie’s sister Hannah sneaking out to see each night? read more

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: Deadly Force

by

DCI Bill Slider #26

This has long been a favorite series of mine since the first book, Orchestrated Death (1991), in which the main character, the married Detective Bill Slider, meets what turns out to be the love of his life. Joanna, who is now his wife and mother of two of his children, is a musician, and in the first book the music is part of the story, which adds to it and gives it depth.  Most of the other books are straight up police procedurals, but they are excellent ones.

This novel, the 26th in the series, is no exception to Harrod-Eagles’ excellence.  Her way with language, humor, and puns is undimmed, and all you need to do is skim through her chapter titles to get a taste of her humor.  Her character descriptions are as sharp and brief as any a golden age writer committed to a page and are one of the reasons I love her writing so much.  This book, while late in the series, does not need to be read in order, as the story told stands well on its own.  I will say that a reading of the earlier books will add to your reading enjoyment, as the characters are filled in and established throughout the series. read more