Elizabeth Hobbs

Favorite Reads of 2024

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This year was a slow burn – sometimes I find a book early in the year that I’m completely passionate about.  This year I didn’t find “the one” until November, when I devoured Christina Lynch’s utterly original Pony Confidential.  I read lots of other great books along the way though, some by tried and true writers – Elly Griffiths, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Ann Cleeves, Anthony Horowitz, Deanna Raybourn and Ragnar Jonasson – and particularly in the historical novel category, lots of wonderful debuts that give us lots to look forward to. These recommendations are divided into categories.  Full reviews for all of these can be found on this website, just search by title or author. read more

Elizabeth Hobbs: Misery Hates Company

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Series debut

I really, really appreciate a book that’s able to keep me guessing.  This novel, while adhering to many of the expectations applying to cozy historicals, also completely upends them in other ways, to the point that even when I was about three quarters of the way through I was still not quite sure where the story was headed.  (I was more than eager to discover where that might be, however.)  As the book opens in 1890’s Boston, Marigold Manners has just lost both parents to the flu pandemic.  And worse, she’s discovered that they died broke.  While Marigold had formerly been a firm part of upper crust Boston, it appears now as though she will have to leave ritzy Wellesley College, abandon her dreams of archaeology, and throw herself at the mercy of her relatives. She has a last, final night out with her friend Isabelle and her devoted society hunk, Cab. So far, so standard. read more