eyes.2c Reviews

Death Comes in Threes  (A Bloody Mary Tudor Mystery #9) by Michael Jecks     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️    Ah Jack! Our beloved, narcissistic opportunist, devoted mostly to his own survival.  Because Jack does have his moments of wanting to be more than he is. Alas those moments are few and always end up differently to how he planned. His latest misadventures takes up sixteen parts veering between Jack’s point of view and John Blount’s chronicles. Queen Mary is supposedly pregnant and spymasters serving Mary, Elizabeth and Philip are plotting, weaving plans for what comes next. Even those on the same side are confusing each other as they move their  strategies forward in  secret. And our unlikely, somewhat loveable anti hero Black Jack is caught between them all. Jack’s accused of murdering three people, of course all is happenstance. When he innocently tries to clear himself he trips over so many plots it makes his head spin, which he’s doing already due to the...

Remember When : Clarissa’s Story (Ravenswood #4) by Mary Balogh        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Eighteen year old Matthew Taylor is shocked when his best friend  Clarissa Greenfield,  all of seventeen, tells him she’s going to marry Caleb Ware, Earl of Stratton. Fast forward thirty years. Clarissa Ware is now fifty and  Dowager Duchess of Stratton. Some years ago the family was dealt a stunning blow when the Duke brought his mistress to the village installing her in the Inn as a widow looking for somewhere to settle down. Prior to this Caleb had kept his parliamentary life and country life separate. His son Devlin confronted him in front of the villagers at the local ball.  Matthew’s always felt rejected by his family and now his secret love and friend will be out of his life. Clarissa words cut. Clarissa has now been a widow for six years. Having done her duty she decides to retreat to Ravenswood to think about her future. It is here she is reacquainted with ...

Holmes Is Missing  (Holmes, Margaret and Poe #2 )  by James Patterson; Brian Sitts           By the seat of your pants read. Well what can’t expect anything less from these two authors.  Brendon Holmes is AWOL, sort of. Margaret Marple is leaning into the new challenge and concerned for Holmes. Auguste Poe is still pulling out the right vintage muscle car for the right moment.  Their research assistant / housekeeper, and so much more, Virginia is fabulous. I’m loving the mysteries these three are coming to grips with, or in Holmes’s case—not! When danger comes into their home and hearth a villain of an entirely different stamp emerges.  We’re left wondering “What’s next?” A Little, Brown & Co ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

The Secret of the Three Fates  (Ruby Vaughn Mystery #3) by Jess Armstrong       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ruby Vaughn has travelled to Manhurst Castle, Scotland, with  her friend and employer Mr. Owen,  to attend of all things, a seance.  It’s highly unusual that Mr. Owen insist they go. There’s not one but three mediums (more witches than mediums) and then when the Pellar turns up the mediums keep saying something dastardly was going to happen. It did! One of the medium’s Lucy Campbell asked Ruby to meet her at midnight at the bridge. Ruby finds her face down in the icy lake. She jumped in to try to rescue Lucy, but she was dead. The police tried to pin the murder on Ruby. She was having nothing of it. Before the tale finishes there’s been murder, truths not revealed or distorted, attempted killings on Ruby and so much more, including the possibility of a figure from Ruby’s past. All very exciting! The fate of Ruby, the Pellar and Mr. Owen once again suck...

The Duke's Man-at-Arms  (Duke’s Guard #11) by C.H. Admirand     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well, a fine story to end the year’s reading on. I loved healer Michaela Colborne and Emmet O’Malley’s story of endurance, of the healing power of love and laughter, all tied up with a wicked Lord given his comeuppance. Oh, and a couple of guardian angels thrown in for good measure. When an injured Michaela, the healing angel of the streets is kidnapped and left tied up in an abandoned building with rats honing in on her, it was a close run thing as to whether Emmett would find her in time. O’Malley is the head of the Duke of Wyndmere’s guard in London. Michaela is rescued, but her past is now rushing into the present. What happens is both shocking and uplifting. Emmett is a rock for her in her time of need. A swoon worthy tale, a new episode in my guilty pleasures reading of Admirand’s fabulous Duke’s Guard series. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.               ...

The Case of the Missing Maid  (Harriet Morrow Investigates #1) by Rob Osler  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Chicago 1898. Pinkerton had appointed a woman operative decades ago. Harriet Morrow has always been encouraged to be herself. She knows about Pinkerton but she doesn’t hold her breath when she decides to apply to a detective agency for a job. She’s stunned when finds out she’s been accepted. Not that that shows up in her workplace. On her first day neither the receptionist or the secretaries will believe that she’s a new operative. Quite a circus! Only when verified by Mr Prescott, the agency owner do they evince a modicum of belief. But then she’s given a desk in the secretaries’ room? Still Harriet wasn’t going to let that deter her. Harriet fast becomes a bike riding, gun toting, bowler hat and men’s shoes wearing investigator (practical!), as she tracks down a maid that’s disappeared from the residence of a neighbor of Mr. Prescott’s.  The other operatives and the police believe t...