eyes.2c Reviews

  Wild Irish Rose (Molly Murphy #18) by  Rhys Bowen; Clare Broyles   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am conflicted about Molly Sullivan. I love her gutsiness, the way she flies in the face of the accepted order of things. Maybe I’m conflicted  because Molly is too. How to manage being a mother, a wife, a daughter-in-law, and how to continue to be a detective in the face of opposition, particularly from her husband? It’s 1907, and a trip back to Ellis Island with Bridie and philanthropic neighbours Elena and Augusta (Aunt Sid and Aunt Gus), to distribute warm clothing to newly arrived immigrants has Molly recalling her own terrifying arrival here. None of her anxiety is helped by Bridie becoming lost and then thought by the authorities to be a recently landed immigrant. Stuff of nightmare for our Molly, as she imagines Bridie disappearing into the bowels of bureaucracy. When Molly meets a young, defenceless woman from Ireland,  Rose McSweeney,  who is accused of murder, with hair a similar red to her own,

All the Queen’s Men (Her Majesty the Queen Investigates #2)   by S.J. Bennett     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Something is broken in the palace and it’s up to the Queen and her private secretary,  Rozie Oshodi  to fix it.  Its 2016, a women is found dead in the Palace swimming pool, other women are being left threatening sexual notes. What is going on? The Queen is missing a personal painting, “ Britannia. [It] used to hang outside [her] bedroom.” As Philip puts it, “What, the ghastly little one by the Australian who couldn’t do boats? That .” The Queen asks Rozie to investigate. It seems for some reason the Queen is fond of that small work. The investigation leads Rozie back in time to a rash of missing items in Palace in the 1980’s dubbed the Breakages Business. She has her hands full Asher investigations deepen. Once again the Queen directs procedures from afar without letting on her involvement. All the while having to disguise from her various Secretaries what is happening. The prodding from behind

Woman on Fire   by  Lisa Barr  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jules Roth, a recent journalism graduate, is desperate to work with Dan  Mansfield , Pulitzer winning journalist. First step is meeting him—and that’s no walk in the park. Not to be deterred, Jules strong arms her way into his office declaring to his secretary that Dan’s her uncle. In the middle of talking to Dan an armed siege is reported in progress. Dan rushes out, Jules tags along. Demonstrating initiative Jules seizes the moment, takes a different line to the story, and scoops other journalists. She’s hired! Dan’s friend Ellis Baum, a high end shoe designer, comes to him with a request to help track down a painting by Ernst Engle. The last painting he did, Woman on Fire, was of Ellis’ mother. It was stolen by the Nazis, and based on a newspaper report from Paris, may be part of a recent recovery of stolen Nazi art. Jules joins Dan in the search. One that will lead from Paris to Switzerland, including investigations of an art dealer  Margau

The Blood Tide (DS  Max Craigie Scottish Crime Thriller #2)   by Neil Lancaster         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Once again ex military Detective Sergeant Max Craigie and the the  Policing Standards Reassurance Team,  are caught up in the search for violent drug dealers. It seems the dealers are receiving intel from a highly placed source in one of the many Scottish law enforcement agencies. Two deaths occur seemingly unrelated. A low level drug dealer on the shores of Loch Torridon, and a suicide on Erskine Bridge across the River Clyde, Glasgow making claims of “bent cops and murder” right before he plunged into the abyss. His parting gift, “ This bastard owns the cops, the NCA and customs.” Tipped off by the policeman at the scene, Max finds the connection, one that gives him pause for concern. His family comes under threat, a fact that raises the stakes, Max’s ire and his steely determination. A police procedural thriller that links back into a recent case, and uncovers a nest of circling sharks.

The Berlin Exchange  by Joseph Kanon     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Always a sucker for a Cold War spy novel, especially East vs West Berlin and of course the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, along with John Le Carre’s Smiley and crew, remembrances beckoned me just from Kanon’s title. How could I resist this addition to a long held tradition? And let me just say I Ioved it. A smart and intricate plot. Martin is that quiet, intelligent character that I adore. He has hidden idealist’s past and hidden depths. It’s 1963. American communist and Physicist, Martin Keller, is exchanged back into East Germany from Britain after ten years in prison for treasonous espionage. Fortunately he’d been caught in Britain and imprisoned there. If he’d been caught in the US it would have been the death penalty. The exchange is organized by his ex-wife’s husband,  some sort of free lance wheeler and dealer, with links to the KGB and it seems, the Black Market . During the exchange an ambulance races past them attempting to cr

Sword and Shadow (Wolves of Elantra #2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ How can you not be inspired by Severn Handred’s story? His challenges and choices inspire as he journeys to the West Marshes, and on into the heart of the Green, I am reminded even more of Kaylin Nyla’s journey through the Green. I wonder how far in the past to that time this is set, and if the now experience will meld with that one.  Severn and Kaylin still have to come face to face in this series. Intriguing! As I said before about Severn (GRds) when looking at the first in this series, The Emperor’s Wolves, “ I love the quiet energy that emenates from Severn Handred. [The Wolves tales—the Emperor’s assassins] fill in the behind the-scene gaps of the early Elantra stories. I’ve always admired and wondered about Severn. He is a gift that reveals so much, as the past, present and future are intwined.   Severn’s story rounds out and strengthens the Elantra series and Private Kaylin Neya.”  Severn as a Shadow Wolf—his composure is amazin

The Verifiers  by  Jane Pek     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Edgy contemporary mystery that took me into the bewildering world of match making apps, compatibility algorithms, and the idea of how much information is actually out there about us. As a result of the latter I felt like closing every social media app I use, going off grid and heading for the hills. It seems the problem with the dating apps is that all participants either stretch the truth or downright lie. That means matchings are skewed. Let me not get into the training of the bots associated with the process. Veracity is a company that will triage your date and tell you what’s what—generally after you’ve been taken for a ride. Claudia Lin can’t believe she’s landed a job with this techno edgy company. BTW her family thinks she’s still working at a financial institution. I love Claudia’s description to her friends about what Veracity does, “ “It’s really a big Sorting Hat,” I say, “that matches people up based on which Hogwarts house they be

The Shadow of the Empire (Judge Dee Investigation #1) by   Qiu Xiaolon          ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Judge Dee is called upon by Emperoress Wu to unofficially investigate the incarceration and upcoming execution of renowned poetess Xuanji. This is indeed a time when the phrase, “Off with her head!” Is no mean threat. Talk about down the rabbit hole for Dee! A lively return to one of my favorite historical Chinese detectives, the Honorable Judge Dee, “ Dee Renjie, the newly appointed Imperial Circuit Supervisor of the Tang Empire.” Of course things are not simple. Powerful people are paying close attention to this case and it looks like Dee is being sandwiched in the middle. A fan of  Robert van Gulik‘s Judge Dee tales, I found  Qiu Xiaolon’s  contribution  (author of Inspector Chen works) well  worth the read. …And Xuanji’s poetry! Brilliant! A Severn House ARC via NetGalley  Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change

Lady Luck and the Lyon (Lyon’s Den) by  Chasity Bowlin       8/2/22       16 Feb 2022 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Delightful story that in true Lyon’s Den style has an “all’s well that ends we’ll” conclusion, if a little rocky at the beginning. Mixing the tropes of Marriage of Convenience, with a touch of E nemies to Lovers and a smidgeon of the Ugly Duckling,  the plot is nicely, if not extensively executed. Ellis Lockhart needs to be married. She and her two sisters are at the mercy of their miserly yet wealthy father,  Winston Lockhart . Only when they are married will each of the sisters inherit their portion of their grandfather’s bequest. Lord Garrick Bancroft, Viscount Lynley,  needs a wealthy wife to claim his inheritance, due to some cumbersome requirements in his grandfather’s will. He has only a few days to meet the deadline. What can I say? After all, this a Lyon’s Den offering! After various, nefarious plots are executed, and thwarted, an HEA blooms. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley 

Four Thousand Days (Margaret Murray #1)   by M.J. Trow        Interesting start to a new series set in London in 1900. Honorary Dr. Margaret Murray seems somewhat like a younger Miss Marples. She’s shrewdly intelligent, totally committed to her discipline, curious, and a pioneer for women in what has mostly been a man’s world.  Based loosely on real person, Murray is an junior archeological lecturer at University College, London at a time when women academic staff are an athemna in the male dominated halls of academia. A young woman who attends Margaret’s public archaeological sessions one afternoon a week, and moonlights as a street walker is dead. Another of her students, Adam Crawford (a constable with Scotland Yard) is convinced her death is a murder and not a suicide as the senior constabulary would want. Margaret is determined to investigate and makes the acquaintance of retired Inspector  Edmund Reid. Reid is drawn into the investigation by curiosity, another dead body, and a ba

The Fashion Orphans   by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Two sisters, divorced Gabrielle and widowed Lulu, who’ve stopped communicating, are brought together over their mother’s grave, and their mother’s obsession with all things Coco Chanel. The sisters  are like chalk and cheese. Their roles neatly pigeon holed from early childhood.  Stepping in from the “Beyond” via a tightly managed will, care of lawyer Ms. Hayes, whom the sisters dub The Gtheir mother Bette leaves a structured and perplexing task for her daughters. A task they must collaborate on. The women are both puzzled and dismayed by the will and what that reveals about their mother and her obsession. Shocked and yet not. As was said, Bette’s “ self-absorption [which] could sometimes rival Miranda Priestly’s in The Devil Wears Prada, always rose to the occasion.”  Their discoveries at Bette’s apartment opens up into the world of high fashion, and feeds into their mother’s absolute mania with all things Coco