Historical

S.K.Golden: The Socialites Guide to Death & Dating

by

Pinnacle Hotel #2

This charming series follows Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy in 1958 New York City.  Her father owns the swanky Pinnacle Hotel, where Evelyn lives, and he makes only occasional appearances in her life.  As the book opens, she and her boyfriend, Mac, are at a party she’s planned at the hotel.  It’s full of wealthy, prominent people, but as it’s wrapping up, Mac suggests they make a break for it and head to his place in Yonkers.  Evelyn, who is agoraphobic (but she’s working on it) reluctantly agrees to this plan.  Unfortunately, on their way out of the hotel garage, they find one of the guests, a Judge Baker, dead in his car of an apparent heroin overdose. read more

Amy Chua: The Golden Gate

by

This is a first novel from Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and it’s an ambitious and almost overstuffed concoction set in 1944 San Francisco.  Peeling away the many, many complicated layers of her story, the essential plot line is this: in 1930, two sisters were playing at the Claremont Hotel while their mother played tennis.  One of them dies by plunging down a laundry chute.  Fast forward to 1944, and their grandmother is giving a deposition to the DA, who is sure one of her granddaughters (one of them the sister of the dead girl) is guilty of murder, and he doesn’t mind charging them all if he can’t get a straight answer from her. read more

Catherine Lloyd: Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld

by

Miss Morton #2

Following on the heels of Catherine Lloyd’s first Miss Morton book, Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld, set in 1830’s Britain, brings back Miss Morton and her boisterous employer, Mrs. Frogerton. Caroline Morton is Mrs. Frogerton’s paid companion, following a loss of wealth and status that left her needing to make her own way in the world. Her job is far from an unpleasant one, however, as she and Mrs. Frogerton get on well. And now that the daughter of the house, Dorothy, is of age, the two women plan to guide her through her first season together. read more

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at the Elms

by

Gilded Newport #11

Murder at the Elms is the eleventh book in Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series, featuring intrepid newspaper reporter Emma Cross, who solves mysteries among Newport’s elite.  Emma is a poor relation of the Vanderbilts, so she is intimately familiar with the high society of Newport, while at the same time having sympathy for the working class.  This is the first book I had read in the series, so I don’t know the details of Emma’s life and upbringing, but from the hints that are given in this novel, it sounds like her branch of the family fell on hard times, and she grew up in an area of Newport that was relatively far from the Gilded Age mansions.  When this book begins, in 1901, she is newly married to newspaper heir Derrick Andrews, and together they own the Newport Messenger.  From what I gather, Derrick’s family objected to his marrying her, I assume because she was a poor relation.  But at the same time some of the working-class people among whom she grew up have rejected her because of her wealthy relations.  So, Emma has a foot in both worlds, without really feeling a part of either. read more

Rhys Bowen: The Paris Assignment

by

Rhys Bowen is one of the best in the biz when it comes to narrative – I think her closest peer may be Harlan Coben.  With both writers, picking up one of their books means you will be subsumed by exquisite storytelling that’s impossible to look away from. Rhys Bowen trends more toward historical fiction rather than Coben’s domestic suspense model, so if that’s your jam, you can’t go wrong nabbing a copy of her latest book, The Paris Assignment.

The story begins in 1931 Paris, when young Sorbonne students Madeline Grant and Giles Martin meet.  Madeline is shy and sheltered, and Giles, the son of French nobility, is at home in Paris.  Madeline, at the Sorbonne for a semester away from her English college, hadn’t even dared to leave her hostel when Giles scoops her up and introduces her to the world of coffee shops, politics, friends, and fine food.  Well, you may guess where this is going – it’s 1931, but – it’s Paris! – and before long Madeline is pregnant.  Giles marries her, despite being disowned by his family, and the only support they have left is Madeline’s elderly French aunt. read more

Jessica Ellicott: Murder at a London Finishing School

by

Beryl & Edwina #7

Jessica Ellicott’s seventh book in her Beryl and Edwina post WWI series, Murder at a London Finishing School, takes the titular heroines on a tour of their past. Both attended Miss Dupont’s Finishing school – it’s where they met – but neither had the best time of their lives there. Daring Beryl was far from suited to the stuffy conventions of the place, and shy Edwina was often homesick. The two were pretty unlikely to ever attend a reunion, pay a nostalgic visit, or, as neither have children, send a daughter of their own to the school. read more

Naomi Hirahara: Evergreen

by

Japantown #2

The follow up to Hirahara’s spectacular Clark and Division finds the Ito family, released from detention camp and the follow up resettlement in Chicago, back in 1946 Los Angeles.  After the Japanese were sent to camps, their homes and businesses were taken over, and they’ve returned to try and build up their lives again.  Our heroine, Aki, works as a nurse’s aide and is waiting for her husband Art to return from the war.  She and her parents have found a small home to rent which the two couples will share. read more

Sujata Massey: The Mistress of Bhatia House

by

Perveen Mistry #4

The much anticipated return of Sujata Massey’s Perveen Mistry is well worth the wait.  It opens with this wonderful sentence: “Sisters will fight. It’s true whether they are raised together or meet as sisters-in-law in a joint family household.”  It sets the tone and theme for the novel, which is about the power of female connection.  And murder, of course.

Perveen the only female lawyer in 1920’s Bombay, lives with her family after a disastrous marriage.  As the book opens, she’s attending a fund-raising party for a new women’s hospital at Bhatia House. Her sister-in-law and former best friend, Gulnaz, has just given birth to the family’s first granddaughter, and she cannot attend.  In her stead, Perveen is bringing Gulnaz’s donation. read more

Dianne Freeman: A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder

by

Lady Harleigh #6

A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder is the sixth book in Dianne Freeman’s delightful Countess of Harleigh mystery series set in London in 1900.  Frances, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, is newly married to her beloved George Hazelton.  She has found the happiness in her second marriage that she did not find in her first, to a philandering aristocrat who married her for her money and who died under mysterious circumstances in his mistress’ bed.  In the first book in the series, A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, she solves the mystery of her first husband’s death, and it is this case that brings Frances and George together.  They have become partners in crime-solving as well as in life, and it is very much an equal partnership, even though George objects to accepting money from Frances’ father and that becomes a point of tension between them early in the book.  But never fear, the tension doesn’t last very long. read more

Nilima Rao: A Disappearance in Fiji

by

This book is such a fun read, which is odd as the subject matter is difficult.  Set in 1914 Fiji, at the time a British colony, the rollback of slavery in Britain made it difficult for colonies to obtain workers for their sugar cane and other plantations.  The solution (a fairly short lived one) was to import Indians as indentured servants.  The workers signed up for a set time – five years – and then were free.  Ultimately, about half returned to India; about half stayed in Fiji.  That’s the setting. read more