A Baffling Murder at the Midsummer Ball by T. E. Kinsey

September 5, 2021

A Baffling Murder at the Midsummer Ball by T. E. Kinsey

London's best jazz band, the Dizzy Heights, have been booked to play at the Midsummer Ball at a ritzy country house. They expect a weekend filled with rich people, flappers, and champagne. The gig is a success, but just as they are packing up to go home, a driving rainstorm cuts off the roads, the telephone, and the power lines, stranding the group and the family. When one of the family is found dead in a locked room, the Dizzy Heights and their entourage realize that this is going to be a tougher job than they thought.

The second outing for the Dizzy Heights gang, set in the 1920's, with crossover from the Lady Hardcastle series. A locked room cozy mystery, light and fun. Great historical details. I love mysteries set at English country houses.

The King's Witch by Tracy Borman

September 1, 2021

The King's Witch by Tracy Borman

Frances Gorges is a young noblewoman skilled as an herbalist. She is summoned to the bedside of the dying Queen Elizabeth I to help ease her suffering. But upon Elizabeth's death, King James I becomes king. James has a mortal fear of witchcraft and suspects witchcraft whenever he comes up against anything he doesn't understand. As a healer who uses natural medicines versus the traditional medicine practiced by the court physicians, Frances becomes an easy target for Lord Cecil, the holder of the Privy Seal. James is an unpopular king, and plots and traitors abound. Frances becomes involved in an illicit affair with one of the traitors and must watch every step.

This is the first book in a trilogy about Lady Frances Gorges, an obscure historical figure (as many women are in history). The author is a historian, so the story is well-researched. No witches actually appear in the story, only the suspicion of witchcraft.

Naked Came the Florida Man by Tim Dorsey

September 4, 2022

Naked Came the Florida Man by Tim Dorsey

Florida's favorite son Serge A. Storms, loveable psychopath and Florida fanatic, and his bestie Coleman are back for another tour of Florida. This time, Serge is taking Coleman on a cemetery tour, visiting the final resting places of famous Floridians including Flipper the dolphin (who was actually a girl dolphin named Mimi) and author Zora Neale Hurston. Other stops include landmark motels and the Golden Corral restaurant (famous for its chocolate fountain). His ultimate destination is the Muck Bowl, a high school football game between rival schools near the sugar cane fields. Other characters are hunting in the same area for buried treasure rumored to have come from a ship that was borne inland during a hurricane. Along the way, Serge finds ways to right wrongs committed against wildlife, senior citizens, and military veterans.

Everyone has heard the news reports that being "Florida man (or woman)..." I have friends who retired to Florida and they tell me that Floridians are pretty crazy. Highly entertaining in a sick way that I enjoy. Serge/Tim Dorsey is a font of Florida trivia. His reverence for vintage Florida motels makes me want to go stay at one.

Vintage Florida motel

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

August 31, 2021

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

Set in 1930's Malaysia, 11 year old Ren is on a desperate quest. He was apprenticed to a magician, and when the magician was on his deathbed, he begged Ren to go and find his missing finger that was cut off years ago. If Ren is unable to locate the finger, the magician's soul will wander the earth for eternity. He has 49 days to complete his task.

In his travels, Ren meets Ji Lin, an apprentice seamstress and dancehall girl. While being a seamstress is much more respectable, Ji Lin works as a dancehall girl to pay her mother's mahjong debts. She is drawn into the missing finger's magical sphere, and together the two young people search for the finger to fulfill the quest.

Very enjoyable fantasy with an interesting angle. There was a romance aspect that was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the plot or character development, but otherwise, this is a great historical fantasy that incorporates Chinese mythology and folklore.

Chinese mythology about the afterlife

Season of Blood by Jeri Westerson

August 26, 2021

Season of Blood by Jeri Westerson

England 1390 - Disaster has occurred at Hailes Abbey: their most precious relic, a vial of Jesus' blood, has vanished from the locked cabinet where it was kept. The relic's power was to take liquid form when touched by the innocent and the worthy, and remain in powder form for sinners and the unrepentent. Relics were important revenue sources for churches, monasteries, and other religious houses, since the faithful came to venerate the relics and leave a donation for the privilege.

Following the relic's disappearance, two monks are found murdered. Crispin Guest is summoned to locate the relic and solve the mystery surrounding the monks. He finds the relic and attempts to return it, but it keeps finding its way back to him. In addition, the monks at Hailes Abbey are in dispute with the monks at Westminster  Abbey regarding who is the rightful owner of the relic. Crispin becomes involved with a beautiful and dangerous woman (he should really steer clear of them) while trying to prevent a former adversary from being charged with murder. Crispin must sort through the tangled layers to find the truth.

Another great entry in the Crispin Guest series, this one with Crispin trying to help the monks at an abbey as well as one of the former sheriffs who enjoyed plaguing him in the past. Jack Tucker and his wife Isabel are prominently featured, as well as their growing brood (who adore Crispin). Crispin finds himself unexpectedly assuming the role of patriarch in their lively household.

An example of a reliquary containing a saint's blood

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

August 24, 2021

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Most of us know the story of the Trojan War from the works of Homer (the Odyssey and the Iliad). But if you read Homer, you'd think there were only two women in all of Greece and Troy: Helen (who caused it all by running off with Paris, prince of Troy, instead of sitting her ass at home with her husband) and Penelope, Odysseus' long-suffering wife. 

This is the story of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women: the wives, the daughters, the queens, the goddesses. Their lives were altered forever by the long and tragic war. A Thousand Ships re-tells the war, what led up to it and the thoughtless acts of men that affected women forever.

An example: when Agamemnon, ruler of the Greeks, realizes that things aren't going so well, he sends a message to his wife, Clytemnestra, back home. He tells her that he has found a wonderful husband for their youngest daughter, Iphigenia, and that Mom should send the girl with her handmaids and her wedding finery, and that the couple will be married before they land at Troy. He has Iphigenia's women dress her for her wedding. He leads her to an altar where all his men are gathered, and proceeds to slit his sweet, young daughter's throat as a human sacrifice so that the war goes his way. When Agamemnon comes home victorious, his wife or possibly her lover kills him. I would have, too.

Now, when Homer tells this story, he glosses over the human sacrifice of an innocent girl by her asshole father. He focuses on the part where Agamemnon comes home and is relaxing in his bath, and his wife murders him for revenge (and also because he deserves it).

Is it any wonder that women read and write romance novels? Men are so disappointing in real life, that we have to create better men in fantasy and fiction.

Okay, I'm done ranting. This was one of the best books that I read in 2021. My friend Bonnie recommended it. Loved it.

Depiction of Troy and the horse that most people think of

The Tomb of the Chatelaine by Karen Baugh Menuhin

August 21, 2021

The Tomb of the Chatelaine by Karen Baugh Menuhin

In his younger days, Lord Godolphin Sinclair was an adventurer, a gold prospector, and an arms dealer. Now that he's old, he's not that much better. He has always been ruthless about amassing wealth. He is afraid of nothing, until he receives a mysterious package that has a direct link to his past. When dead bodies begin turning up, he calls Major Heathcliff Lennox and ex-Inspector Swift to his country home, Lanscombe Park, to investigate. Lennox with his dog Mr. Fogg, his cat Tubs, and his long-suffering butler Greggs (who always seems to find a lady friend on their adventures) journeys to Lanscombe Park, to help solve the crime but also hoping to reconnect with his maybe-girlfriend Persi.

I love mysteries set at English country houses! This is #6 in the Heathcliff Lennox series (don't call him Heathcliff!). They are light, cozy mysteries with great characters and humor. Great fun!

Medieval tomb of an unknown lady