Freya Sampson: The Busybody Book Club

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I loved this book and its Cornwall setting. It begins with the heroine, former Londoner Nova, fretting that no one will show up for the book club she runs at the local Community Center.  Luckily a few people do straggle in, led by the overwhelming Phyllis, who is so entirely bossy that she’s allowed to bring her smelly dog with her wherever she goes. She’s joined by the affable, older Art, who reads romances to his now blind wife who loves them, a painfully shy teen, Ash, and a man named Michael who seems to have come from afar to join the club but seems to have read little of the book they’re discussing. read more

Ann Clair: A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains and Vines

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Cyclist Guide #2

A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains and Vines is Ann Clair’s second Cyclist’s Guide Mysteries novel. Sadie Green owns and operates Oui Cycling Bicycling Tour Company, and runs various tours throughout France. Sadie is passionate about cycling and France, happy to be fortunate enough to make a living doing what she loves. Having moved here from America, she is striving to fit into the new life she has built for herself, alongside her fellow tour guides and coworkers. It’s not an easy thing to do when murders keep happening on her tours, as it tends to make the wrong kind of reputation for the business. Even though she helped solve the last murder, it seemed to just increase her notoriety and give her the reputation of the detective tour guide rather than just the cyclist tour guide. read more

Paula Sutton: The Potting Shed Murder

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Hill House Vintage Murder #1

One of the most interesting things about The Potting Shed Murder is that readers get to experience the inner thoughts and perspectives of most of the characters involved in the story. Instead of just experiencing how the detective, in this case a Daphne Brewster, thinks, readers get to see how the other townsfolk view one another and react to the murder. Daphne and her family are brand new to the English county village of Pudding Corner and are thus under a lot of scrutiny from the community. She is also one of the very few black members of this community, and is fully aware that means she is getting perhaps a bit more scrutiny than another new neighbor might. Even so, Daphne is determined to make a life in Pudding Corner after leaving the rather intense and expensive life of London behind. read more

Elizabeth Penney: Bodies and Battlements

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New series

Bodies and Battlements is the first Ravensea Castle mystery by Elizabeth Penney. Readers are taken to the Yorkshire Coast in Robinhood’s Bay, where Ravensea castle stands near the shore. The Asquith family has lived in the castle for generations, and with bills piling up Ravensea Castle is undergoing a dramatic transformation to a B&B location. Nora, full title Eleanor Sibilla Asquith, is spear heading the effort with the blessing of her father and contention from her siblings. She runs her own little apothecary, but the funds just aren’t enough for the upkeep of the castle. Despite the lack of support from her siblings and the push back and protests from some new locals, Nora manages to get Ravensea all up to code, ready to run as an official B&B, and get her first guests registered. She just hopes that their resident ghost, Sir Percival, stays inactive long enough to not scare anyone off. read more

Cara Hunter: Making a Killing

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DI Adam Fawley #7

If you haven’t read the first book in this series, Close to Home, please, read no further.  Instead, go find a copy, and get as hooked on DI Adam Fawley as I am.  Then, get caught up (it will only take a couple of days, I guarantee it) and dive into this one.  Fawley is a detective in Oxford, England, and author Hunter supplies a character list at the beginning of each book, golden age style.  It is helpful, as there are a lot of characters, and while the police characters are important, in Hunter’s universe, story is all.  So pull up a seat. read more

July Book Club: The Paris Widow

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Join us for our July book club when we discuss Edgar winning The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle.  We’ll meet in person on Sunday, July 13 at 2 p.m. and on zoom on Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m.  All are welcome!  Message us for a zoom link or the address if you’re in town, or email me at store (at) auntagathas.com.  The Paris Widow won the Edgar for Best Paperback Original.

Description of the book from goodreads: When Stella met Adam, she thought she had finally found a nice, normal guy—a welcome change from her previous boyfriend and her precarious jetsetter lifestyle with him. But her secure world comes crashing down when Adam goes missing after an explosion in the city square. Unable to reach him, she panics. read more

Anthony Horowitz: Marble Hall Murders

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Susan Ryeland #3

If traditional, golden age style mystery is your jam, these books are absolute perfection.  Though it’s a series, and the main character, Susan Ryland, has her life change drastically between the volumes, you could definitely read each one as a standalone and not be lost.  Of course, if you like golden age style traditional mysteries, you’re going to read them in the order the author intended regardless, right?

As Anthony Horowitz has proven himself to me to be some kind of genius, I always find that it’s a good idea when opening one of his books to just relax and trust that he will reliably serve up a great story.  In this instalment former editor Ryeland has returned from her idyll in Crete after abandoning both the hotel business and her boyfriend.  She decides to take on freelance editing work (the reason why it’s freelance is explained in the earlier books), and the first assignment that comes her way is the continuation of the Atticus Pund series.  Pund, a detective working in the 1950s, was the creation of her former client, the late Alan Conway, who grew to hate his detective and decided to give him a fatal illness. The title of the new book, then, is Pund’s Last Case. read more

Nev March: The Silversmith’s Puzzle

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Captain Jim & Lady Diana #4

I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series, Murder in Old Bombay.  In that first book, the main characters, Captain Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framji, meet and marry despite some pretty steep obstacles.  Jim is half white, half Indian, and he is not a Parsi, as Lady Diana is.  The Parsis, the aristocrats of Indian culture in the 1890’s, have very strict rules about marrying outside the faith. This creates problems for the couple.

Jim, a dashing and decorated Captain in the British army, has worked as a journalist and a private investigator for the Framji family.  He met the Framjis when he searched for the killer of Diana’s sister-in-law.  In this novel, it’s her widower, Diana’s brother Adi, who is in trouble.  The two novels in between this one and the first found Diana and Jim in Boston and Chicago and on a steamship crossing the ocean.  Those novels, which were fine traditional mysteries, nevertheless lacked the zip and life of the first novel.  As the Agnihotris return to India, however, life returns to this wonderful series. read more

K.A. Merson: The Language of the Birds

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Debut

This novel really lets the author’s freak flag fly, in the best way.  It definitely is not a book for every reader – it will help if you enjoy puzzles, cryptology and maps, but even in you don’t, the story and the characters make the read worthwhile.  The main character, Arizona, is a neurodivergent 17 year old who has just lost her father.  As the book opens, she and her mother are headed to the ghost town of Bodie, California, to scatter her father’s ashes.

She and her mother and Arizona’s dog, Mojo, have arrived in the family Airstream, and when they get there, Arizona tells her mother she’d like some time to herself.  When she goes to meet up with her mother at the appointed time, however, her mother is nowhere to be found.  Hours later, Arizona at last reports her mother’s disappearance to a park ranger who tells her to wait at her campsite. read more

Jenny Adams: A Poisonous Silence

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Deadly Twenties #2

I think the mark of a good writer is often seen in book two of a series.  In book one, the author has put in everything – every twinkly, sparkly element they’ve had in mind forever.  When it works, it’s magical.  Jenny Adams’ debut, A Deadly Endeavor, was just such a beginning.  Excellent, rich, main characters, interesting setting, and good storyline.  In this book, the second in her series, she proves her chops, with a more focused plot line and continuing the development of her main characters, who are estranged as the book opens. read more