aunt_agatha

Amanda Flower: To Slip the Bonds of Earth

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Series debut

To Slip the Bonds of Earth is the first book in what looks to be a wonderful series by Amanda Flower, author of the Emily Dickinson mysteries and many other series, featuring an amazing, real-life heroine, Katharine Wright, sister of the Wright Brothers.  Katharine was a remarkable woman, an intellectual, a suffragette, and the only college graduate among the Wright siblings.  Katharine was very close to her famous brothers, Wilbur and Orville, but while they were brilliant engineers, they never went to college.  Their father, a bishop, believed in educating daughters as well as sons, but Wilbur and Orville were largely self-taught, while Katharine graduated from Oberlin College, one of the few co-educational colleges at the time. read more

Nicholas George: A Deadly Walk in Devon

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Debut

This charming cozy is set in Devon, but features a group of Americans who have gathered there for a walking tour of England.  Our hero, Rick Chasen, or “Chase”, is a recently retired, recently widowed police detective.  The loss of his husband, Doug, has caused him to rethink his life and search for things that will keep him active and engaged.  He’s meeting up with his friend Billie for the trip, who is an optimistic soul and knits with enthusiasm.

The rest of their tour group – or shall we call them the suspect pool? – is nicely varied and interesting.  There’s a wealthy man and his trophy wife; there’s a couple who create environments for the elderly (who are dissatisfied with their room décor); there’s a sister and brother who are fulfilling the sister’s life long dream of a trip to England; and there’s the required curmudgeon, rounded off by the tour guide and driver.  While I really enjoyed this novel my enjoyment would have been heightened by the traditional cast of characters at the beginning of the book.  This book seemed well suited for that kind of thing. read more

Gigi Pandian: A Midnight Puzzle

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Secret Staircase #3

In the third book in Gigi Pandian’s locked room series her heroine, magician Tempest Raj, seeks the answer to a devastating question: who killed her mother?  A supposed “curse” decrees that the eldest born child in the family will die while performing magic. It may sound ridiculous but Tempest’s aunt and mother both passed that way, and Tempest herself has already suffered a narrow escape.  The killing that opens the book is that of the wealthy bully who has been suing Tempest’s family construction company, insisting that the staircase that collapsed and put his wife in a coma was the result of shoddy construction. read more

Celia Fremlin: The Trouble Makers

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Classic

Publication date: 1963

Of all the mystery variations, “Domestic Suspense,” like many things domestic, is the most undervalued, considered practically disposable. Regardless of their excellence or popularity, writers of the past who didn’t write detective series are seldom remembered or celebrated today. One of my favorites, Celia Fremlin, who the New York Times of the time quite aptly called a mistress of insight and suspense, is fortunately not completely lost. Dover Books, sovereign of the uncopyrighted, has three of her titles in print and I had the pleasure of writing an entry about one of them, The Hours Before Dawn in the epochal Crum Creek classic 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century. read more

Jennifer Ashley: Speculations in Sin

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Below Stairs #7

Why haven’t I heard of this series before? Though it’s the seventh book, I was completely taken in by it almost immediately, wanting to read the other six as soon as possible. Because it’s the seventh book there was a slight amount of catching up, but very slight. The main character, Mrs. Kat Holloway (the “Mrs” is an honorary title) is a cook for a wealthy London household in 1883. She has a 12 year old daughter her employers aren’t aware of, placed in a friend’s household. read more

Deanna Raybourn: A Grave Robbery

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Veronica Speedwell #9

Whether she’s writing suspense or historical fiction, Deanna Raybourn is never anything less than completely entertaining. There’s a magic to the storytelling in her long-running Veronica Speedwell series that suspends time for the reader.  In case you don’t know, Veronica is a lepidopterist (studies butterflies), and her partner, Stoker, is a gifted naturalist and expert taxidermist.  There are mysteries involved, of course, but these are more adventure stories in the vein of Mrs. Pollifax  or Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody books, and you, dear reader, can’t help but enjoy the ride. read more

Jenny Adams: A Deadly Endeavor

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Debut

Set in 1921 Philly, this lively series debut finds its characters affected by both the war and the influenza pandemic.  Heroine Edie Shippen returns home after suffering through the flu and nursing her San Francisco aunt just in time for her twin sister Frances’ engagement party to Edie’s former beau, Theo.  She isn’t even planning to attend until her maid Jenny convinces, telling her she looks too good to miss it.  Edie, who seems remarkably unaware of her own charms, does agree, but for her the occasion is only saved by an encounter with her rebellious cousin, Rebecca. read more

Katherine Bolger Hyde: Hanging with Hugo

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Crime with the Classics #6

Set on the Oregon coast, this charming series features B & B owner Emily, a former professor, and her sheriff husband Luke.  In this outing they’ve just returned from their honeymoon and are getting set to host the wedding of Emily’s half-brother Oscar.  They feel prepared for the tsunami of family and general chaos brought on by a wedding, but when they return home they find the church where it is to take place has been hit by an actual storm, with massive damage to the roof as well as a beautiful rose window in the nave.  The squishy floor and holes in the roof aren’t exactly conducive to the perfect wedding, so Emily, an heiress, donates some money of her own and arranges further financing through the town to get repairs started. read more

Isis Crawford: A Catered Quilting Bee

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Mystery with Recipes #18

In Isis Crawford’s seventeenth book, A Catered Quilting Bee, sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons find themselves in for far more than they bargained for when they are hired to cater the Longely Sip and Sew Quilting Circle’s fist exhibit event. First one of the members is found dead, and Bernie and Libby are hired by Cecelia Larson to investigate. Suicide appears to be the cause of death, and the local authorities rule it as such, but her friends just cannot believe it.  What starts as a basic fact-finding quest turns into a full-blown murder investigation for the Simmons sisters. Luckily their father was an impressive detective back in his day on the force, and he raised his girls to investigate and sleuth out the truth, even if their actual profession is more about solving the perfect recipe instead of the perfect crime. read more

Traci Wilton: Mrs. Morris and the Mermaid

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Salem B & B #8

There are very few places more ideal for supernatural themed cozies than Salem, Massachusetts. Traci Wilton takes full advantage of the town’s mystical air, and has based each of her eight books around some sort of mythical being. Her eighth Salem B&B Mystery, Mrs. Morris and the Mermaid, highlights the town’s first ever Mermaid Parade. Charlene Morris’ B&B is bursting with people eager to participate and compete in the parade. There is also a local, and retired, Hollywood celebrity mermaid, Trinity Powers, who will be making her first public appearance in years. She is famous for her role in the movie Sirena, which has a massive fan base. But she isn’t the only big name to show up. Sirena got a remake, and the star of that movie is shimmying her way to center stage with her own fan mob. Needless to say, the opposing fan groups are pretty opinionated, and are unfortunately more than willing to escalate things. Luckily, the stars themselves are more interested in making their own public appearances a success then sending their fans after each other. read more