Berkley

Vanessa Lillie: Blood Sisters

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I had a love-hate relationship with this read.  Love: I loved the characters, the set-up, the cultural background, and the rocket powered story.  Hate: I hated the way the main character runs into danger, alone, even though she knows it’s stupid.  The 4th or 5th time she did it I almost closed the cover, but I am so glad I didn’t because this read is powerful, moving, and difficult to forget.

The main character is Syd Walker, a Cherokee from Oklahoma who has made a life for herself far from home.  She’s an archeologist, married to a dentist, and the two women are trying for a baby, though Syd doesn’t seem to be totally on board with the baby idea.  As the book opens, Syd is examining the bones of a woman found on Native land in Rhode Island. As she’s on her way home from the site, she gets a call from her boss. read more

Mia P. Manansala: Murder and Mamon

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Tita Rosie’s Kitchen #4

This is one of the more charming, youthful, and vital series in the cozy universe, combining many traditional cozy elements – cooking, coffee, a dog, family dynamics – and giving all these elements a new kind of flair through the cultural background of the main character and the diversity of the cast.  Series heroine Lila Macapagal now has her own place, the Brew Ha café, next to her Tita Rosie’s restaurant. Her large Filipino family makes for a rich background for the books, and in this installment, her extended gaggle of aunties – called the “Calendar Crew” are starting their own business venture: a laundromat.  They are getting set to open during the town Spring Clean event. read more

Anna Lee Huber: A Fatal Illusion

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Lady Darby  #11

Anna Lee Huber’s most outstanding quality as a writer is her educated heart.  The way she parses human relationships is nothing short of brilliant.  In the latest Lady Darby outing, she and her husband, Sebastian Gage, are summoned to the bedside of his disagreeable father – Lord Gage has been shot as he was making his way home via coach.  It’s 1832 Yorkshire and travelling the highways could be dangerous – not only was Lord Gage shot (luckily in the leg) but one of his servants has been killed.  Sebastian is suffering from a plethora of emotions, all expertly dissected by Huber. read more

Kristen Loesch: The Last Russian Doll

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The Last Russian Doll is an epic, set both during the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the more recent revolution – the one that abolished the Soviet Union in 1991.  The more present day heroine, Rosie, or Raisa, her actual name, is a British grad student who fled from Russia with her mother to the UK after the murders of her father and sister.  Her mother is now an ancient drunk who rarely gets out of her bed; as the book opens, she dies, but Rosie is headed back to Russia as an assistant to a famous writer (he brings to mind Alexander Solzhenitsyn).  She will be there to help with research, but what she really wants is to solve the mystery of her father’s and sister’s deaths. read more

Katie Oliver: A Murderous Persuasion

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This charming cozy featuring Phaedra Brighton hits almost every important cozy note: a bread and breakfast; a Jane Austen weekend; an aunt in trouble; a single woman in search of love; bookstore owning parents; a haughty cat; and an adorable small town.  As the book opens, Phaedra is alarmed that her aunt is thinking of selling the beloved B & B Phaedra has viewed as a second home. She pleads with her aunt who argues back that business is down, and so Phaedra plans (almost on the fly) a Jane Austen weekend. read more

Amanda Flower: Because I Could Not Stop For Death

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Amanda Flower’s charming historical mystery is set in the household of Emily Dickinson and her family around 1855.  The main character is not Emily herself (though she is a strong second) but the new maid in the Dickinson household, Willa Noble.  One of the more fascinating aspects of this novel is Flower’s simple ability to put the reader into a different mindset.  Willa, who has always been poor, is grateful for the work and for a roof over her head.  Her simple expectations are so different from the highly enlarged expectations of the early 21st century. read more

Deanna Raybourn: Killers of a Certain Age

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This book is an absolute blast.  Hilarious, well plotted, exciting, packed with interesting characters, it is definitely the most fun I’ve had reading a book all year.  As I have read a few books lately with detectives who are on the older side, I thought I knew what to expect, but I was so, so wrong.  Raybourn’s “Killers” are 60 something female assassins who are on a retirement cruise. They are a little puzzled by the cruise but are determined to enjoy each other’s company, the food, and the booze. Their collective bad-assery is a far remove from Jane Marple’s. read more

Juliet Blackwell: The Paris Showroom

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This is not a mystery, but an historical novel by the talented Juliet Blackwell, who has two cozy series to her credit as well as several novels.  This novel is set in a now very familiar time period: WWII.  Blackwell’s story takes place in occupied France, and she has a slightly different and original twist to her story.  The main characters are Capucine, a fan maker, and her estranged daughter, Mathilde.  The two live lives that haven’t intersected much, but this is not only the story of Mathilde’s growth from a callow, privileged young woman into something much more, but the story of Capucine, a true flapper in every way, who is now being held prisoner by the Nazis on the top floor of a Paris department store. read more

Deanna Raybourn: An Impossible Imposter

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I’m a huge fan of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell series, but in every series, there are always one or two books that have a bit more sparkle than the rest.  For me, it’s this book, which combines all of Raybourn’s many gifts into one completely delicious package.  In book seven of this series, lepidopterist Veronica has settled in with her beloved Stoker, in an extremely unconventional arrangement for the time (Victorian Britain): they live in sin, and Veronica is very much a working woman. read more

David Bell: Kill All Your Darlings

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Nobody does a great set-up for a thriller like David Bell, which is not to say he’s shabby at the execution either. His latest, Kill All Your Darlings, is no exception, starting with an irresistible premise — English professor Connor Nye is on the wrong side of publish or perish when a great novel lands in his lap. It was written by one of his students who turned it in as her thesis and then promptly disappeared. He polishes it up and publishes it under his own name. Unfortunately, it contains details about an unsolved murder that only the murderer would know. And then the student shows up in disguise at one of his readings. read more