Minotaur Books

Jess Armstrong: The Curse of Penryth Hall

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Debut

This was an interesting and unexpected read. Set just post WWI, it’s the story of Ruby Vaughn, an orphaned heiress who makes a living selling books. She works for an elderly Exeter bookseller, and as the novel opens, he’s sending her to Cornwall to deliver a trunk full which he warns her not to open. Mystified, she complies. The village where he’s sending her is the home of her former best friend and perhaps former lover, Tamsyn. Tamsyn is married to Sir Edward Chenowyth of Penryth Hall, a marriage that broke their friendship. read more

Paige Shelton: Lost Hours

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Alaska Wild #5

I’ve been following this series since book one, and I’m glad I have, because I might have been a bit confused if I hadn’t read all the adventures of Beth Rivers.  A few years back, Beth had been abducted and kept in a van.  She escaped – with grievous injuries – with her kidnapper still on the loose.  She headed to tiny Benedict, Alaska, to hide out more or less on a whim, leaving her Missouri home behind.  The “hotel” she found was actually a halfway house, but it still suits her, as do the residents of Benedict, who don’t make a fuss but form a solid community around her. read more

Celeste Connally: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

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Lady Petra Inquires #1

Joining the now crowded regency mystery field, Celeste Connally manages to make her entry a stand out in her series debut.  Set in 1815, Lady Petra Forsyth has declared to all of society that she plans to remain unmarried.  Unusually for the time, she has her own monies left to her by her mother, and she’s mourning not only a dead fiancé but the loss of her dearest childhood friend, Duncan Shawcross.  The two were raised together and parted on a terrible note after the death of Petra’s beloved, who was also Duncan’s best friend. read more

Paula Munier: Home at Night

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Mercy & Elvis #5

This is a great Halloween read.  You’d think mystery fiction would be more littered with great Halloween reads, but there really aren’t that many.  Munier also has a theme, as she always does, and the theme of this novel is “home,” the meaning of it and the finding of it. Her series centers on Mercy Carr, a veteran of the Afghan war, as is her dog, Elvis. The story opens with a young Mercy Carr encountering a ghost like figure at an old, abandoned house in town.  The woman who had owned it was a well known poet, and one of her more famous poems is a Halloween verse for children. read more

Korina Moss: Case of the Bleus

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Cheese Shop #4

I am delighted to be able to review Korina Moss’ fourth book in her Cheese Shop series, Case of the Bleus. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading my way through the adventures of Willa Baur as she has established her cheese shop Curds & Wey in the town of Sonoma Valley, and helped the local police catch more than a few murderers. While said authorities might not be thrilled with her methods, they certainly can’t argue with the results. But despite her sleuthing prowess, none can dispute that Willa’s true passion remains with cheese. Korina Moss’ description of the various cheese, and Willa’s passion for it, will have readers pausing just long enough to have a little cheese snack of their own as they read along. Perhaps even trying one of the tasty cheese recipes included at the back of the book. read more

Amy Chua: The Golden Gate

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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

Donna Andrews: Birder She Wrote

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Meg Lanslow #33

I am very excited to be able to review Donna Andrews thirty-third book, Birder She Wrote. Since I started reading cozies I have always been drawn in by the adventures of Meg Langslow and her quirky and endearing family. Birder She Wrote hits on a theme any and all can relate to: irritating neighbors. Meg’s own are so infamous in Caerphilly they have their own nick name: NIMBY, which stands for “not in my back yard.” As the Mayor’s part time assistant of special projects, Meg finds herself directly in the path of the NIMBYS often. What makes them particularly difficult is that they moved to the countryside without understanding at all what living in a rural area really meant. Or that the others who lived there are farmers, which means many a sight, smell, and sound that did not exactly meet with the NIMBY’s idyllic view of what living in the country should be. read more

Sarah Stewart Taylor: A Stolen Child

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Maggie D’Arcy #4

This is one of the strongest entries to date in Sarah Stewart Taylor’s Maggie D’Arcy series.  The first novel, The Mountains Wild, follows the grown Maggie, a detective on Long Island, as she goes back to Ireland to try and discover what happened to her cousin, who went missing years before.  She also reconnects with an old flame, and the next two books follow Maggie as she returns to Ireland on a case and tries to figure out what’s next in her life.  What’s next turns out to be Maggie giving up her job on Long Island, moving in with Conor, her old flame, and taking the class to restart her career as an Irish Guard. read more

Summer reading: Book Club picks & dates

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Join us this summer for some reading!  In June, we’ll read S.J. Bennett’s All the Queen’s Men, meeting in person on Sunday, June 25 at 2 p.m. and on zoom on Wednesday, June 28 at 7 p.m.  In July, Allison Montclair will be joining us on zoom on Sunday, July 23 at 2 p.m. to discuss her new book, The Lady from Burma.  While it’s not necessary to have read any of Ms. Montclair’s books before the discussion, I recommend them highly!  It’s a wonderful series set in London just post WWII.  And spoiler, Allison Montclair is a pen name – tune to discover her (?) true identity.  In August, we’ll be reading the much award nominated Shutter by Ramona Emerson, meeting in person on Sunday, August 13 at 2 p.m. and on zoom on Wednesday, August 16 at 7 p.m.  Anyone is welcome – please message us on facebook or twitter or email us at store (at) auntagathas.com for more info or for a zoom link. read more

Ashley Weaver: Playing it Safe

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Electra McDonnell #3

If Nancy Drew had lived during WWII and had the skills of a safecracker, she might have grown up to be Ashley Weaver’s appealing Electra McDonnell.  Electra, or Ellie, has been trained by her safecracking uncle and in the first book is recruited by the government to put her skills to a more patriotic use.  While Ellie’s past is criminal, her present is in the service of her country, and as the book opens, she’s given an assignment with few details other than “get to know the locals.” read more