eyes.2c Reviews

Death and Croissants  (Follet Valley Mystery #1) by   Ian Moore          ⭐️⭐️⭐️ My head’s still spinning from the idea of a slightly  outdated gentleman running a  B&B in the Loire Valley.  I must admit Moore’s opening salvo on muesli was a hoot. One I all to readily concur with. “Muesli…rejected budgie food!”  Richard Ainsworth is a middle aged, fractious man who’s all charm on the outside and seemingly a curmudgeon on the inside. (Or does he just go through life on a slightly different plane to others?) He’s a film historian which probably answers all questions about his jaded, ennui bordering on mécontent  attitude.  His hen’s have movie star names, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, and Ava Gardner. He’s bullied it seems, by his staff he more or less inherited from his former or not? wife Clare. When his cleaner finds a man’s handprint in blood on the wall of one of the guest bedrooms Richard tries to explain it away as ...

Bitter Medicine   by   Mia Tsai     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In a world full of fae, where ancient figures are linked to Gods, where organizations have come to depend on the agency Roland &  Riddles to solve their problems. The Bureau is the elite arm of the agency, led by the elf Oberon. The Fixers are special agents who report directly to Oberon, the legendary founder of Roland & Riddle.” Oberon has in his thrall a half fae Fixer, Luc Villois. Others don’t know it, but Oberon keeps Luc chained to him by Right of Dominion, a practice outlawed many years after Luc was under Oberon’s control. That control continues. I loathe Oberon! Think of James Bonds on steroids and you have some idea of Agent Luc Villois’ capabilities. Luc’s been going to a B Grade Chinese artist Elle Mai for protective Glyphs. She is the only one he’s come to trust. Elle holds secrets.  She hides her true abilities for very good reasons.  She’s has the ability of a higher grade artist b...

All That Is Hidden  (Molly Murphy Mystery #19) by   Clare Broyles; Rhys Bowen    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One of the more interesting plots in the Molly Murphy series. Daniel comes home and has Molly look at a house on 78 Avenue that they’re moving into this Friday. Molly is incensed at Daniel’s high handedness, particularly as it seems he’ll be a candidate for Sheriff in the County of New York, which included five boroughs. He would be running on the Tammany ticket. How did that happen? Molly’s  puzzled? Daniel had always maintained that that ticket came with bribes and kickbacks. Everything Daniel hated. Now  Daniel has asked her to trust him. She does of course…but! We go from that domestic bombshell, to a fire on a boat, to Molly trying to cope with having maids and a cook, and the expectations on Molly as lady of the house. There’s the cook’s meals of gluggy pasta to try to overcome, and the startling situation of being escorted by some heavy dock work...

So Shall You Reap  (Inspector Brunetti #32) by Donna Leon     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Inspector Brunetti is transported back to his student days, to the Italy of the red brigade activists — bombing, kidnapping, disappearances. What prompted this? A body was found. It was a pleasant Buddhist Sri Lankan, Inesh Kavinda, who was living in the garden shed of the Palazzo Zaffo Sri Leonie. Brunetti had met him.   Days before he’d enquired for his father-in-law if the rumour was true that the palazzo was for sale, a hidden palazzo with its abandoned gardens. (And ok, I’d just viewed a Monty Don program about the gardens of Venice. So I was all a quiver at the idea of mysterious spaces unknown to Brunetti) At that time the owners were away. It turns out the wife is an old friend of Guido’s from his childhood, Gloria Forcolin.  Mindful of the past, Brunetti has much to ponder. Meanwhile one of his officers runs into trouble at a Gay pride parade. The past and present are on a collision...

The Deadly Weed  (A Reverend Mother Mystery #10) by Cora Harrison     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well this was a shocker! The twist at the end left me speechless. Oh, I suspected something was up but just didn’t expect the resolution to land where it did, But back to the beginning. A man was found aphixiated from smoke inhalation when a fire broke our in a riverside factory. A cigarette factory just newly begun by one of the Rev. Mother’s cousins, Robert Murphy Robert had employed ten of her ex-students, school leavers, for six shillings a week to pack cigarettes from tobacco plants dating from Sir Walter Raleigh he’d found growing wild on his property. A brave new world was opening up and for these girls. A job is everything. Unfortunately a busybody, Mrs Maloney has watched the comings and goings for sometime and has seen one of the girls, Maureen leave after the others. Of course there’s all  sorts of rumours about that. Maureen, a wild fourteen year old young lass, unfortunatel...

The Dead Will Rise  (Simon Westow #5) by   Chris Nickson    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1824. Leeds has a new low in crime! Nickson has blown me away with this episode of thief-taker  Simon Westrow. The abused Jane, his very damaged partner who is making slow steps and is not cutting herself anymore, although her trusty honed blade never leaves her side is of course present, and Rosie, Simon’s wife, mother of his children and partner until motherhood shifted her attention to their boys. This time however she’s more than ever up for the chase. Bodysnatchers have struck in Leeds. The population is aghast. The body of a ten year old child has been stolen. The parents are bereft. The population is angry. Rosie is incandescent with rage. This has become personal for her. The owner of a Foundry, Joseph Clark, a close friend and employer of the father, has asked Simon to find the degenerate grave robbers. For a finders fee of course At the same time a Mrs Amanda Parker has asked Simon...

Dark Queen War y (Margaret Beaufort Mystery #4) by   Paul Doherty       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The battle for King between the Lancaster’s and the York’s before Henry VII came to power was viscous, deceitful, acquisitive and brutal. Bids for power by satellites were equally as astounding. In the center, calmly and urgently plotting for her son’s claim was Margaret of Beaufort. In this third in the series Margaret (the Dark Queen) has been sent to the Moor, an ex Templar haven now held by George Neville, Archbishop of York and his sister Grace. Along with her sworn companions, Christopher Urswicke and Reginald Bray. Wary she needs to be indeed. An imposter is being hailed as her son Henry. He too, along with his companions arrives. All set in motion by Sir Thomas Urswicke, Recorder of London, Christopher’s father. What happens here is murder most foul, betrayal and hidden death. Margaret and her companions need all their wits about them. Treason and treachery is on all sides. Ev...

Death of a Bookseller   by Bernard J. Farmer Introduction  by Martin Edwards          ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Somewhat dated, quaint even, but a strapping yarn that gave insights into book collectors, the lure of the hunt and the complete lack of integrity for many who are obsessed by collecting those first and rare editions. Death of a Bookseller was first published in 1956. None of it’s allure has been lost. This was a complex tale. A man, a bookseller, well book runner really,  has been sentenced to death but Sergeant Jack Wigan feels he’s innocent. So working in his own time Wigan persists with the investigation. Only to be stumped time and time again. There’s the foray into Grimoires. Dark indeed! There’s some fabulous side alleys to get lost down, and it’s the last minute before all becomes clear. Once again Martin Edwards’ Introduction highlights Farmer’s writing style and the crime genre development. Illuminating! I loved this British Crime Classic titl...

Never Seduce a Duke  (Mating Habits of Scoundrels #5) by   Vivienne Lorret       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well here’s a jolly romp from England over to France, Germany down the Rhine, then across the alps to Italy and then fleeing back to England, all to escape a maddened boulanger, whose recipes the aunts have filched. Margaret Stredwick has decided to take a holiday on the continent to get over her broken heart. Accompanied by her two madcap, recipe gathering aunts. Enroute they stop at the Duke of Merelton’s castle, Caliburn Keep. Supposedly said the aunts to view the gardens, in reality to steal recipes from the family recipe book reputedly to harken back to King Arthur. Of course things go amiss. Meg smacks into the Lucian Ambrose, the seventh Duke in a darkened corridor. He later thinks she’s a certain mysterious Lady Avalon who’s stolen the family book of recipes, and pursues her across Europe. All good fun, the whimsical bordering on the inane, in this enemies to lover...

Once Upon a Storm  (Struck by Lightening #1)   by Kimberly Cates   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A younger son returned from army life.  A woman who’d been his friend and companion as a child. As a girl she’d survived a dreadful storm and lightening strikes, but remembers little of it. Harsh memories of the past; a lordly father, Earl of Ravencroft, brutal and violent, a  disappeared mother, two  sisters sent to Italy, all take their toll. Now there’s a smarmy overseer, Mr. Inchwick filling his own pockets from various avenues of the Earl’s, including substandard building materials. 1843 and Captain Simon Harcourt returns from the far flung British empire. Afghanistan this time with a magnificent horse, a Turkoman stallion, he intends to breed. His father will build him stables at Everdene Hall, a place he’d stormed out of and vowed never to return. The horses and a vow to his dead comrade in arms, Jamie the fiery Scotsman, is what’s brought him back. The price however might be...

Post After Post-Mortem : An Oxfordshire Mystery (Robert MacDonald #11)   by E.C.R. Lorac. Introduction by Martin Edwards. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ruth Surray comes from a family of intectuals, each in their own way special. Ruth is a “literary novelist” already making a name for herself. When Ruth suicides, the family is bereft. However, after her death her brother Richard, a psychologist, receives a chatty letter detailing her future plans. Richard is suspicious and an investigation is re opened into Ruth’s death. That’s when strange and deadly things happen An interesting cast, Inspector MacDonald being one! I really enjoyed Martin Edwards’ introduction discussing Lorac’s writing style and comments on aspects such as the literary world of the time and the further character development of MacDonald. This crime novel certainly has stood the test of time! A  Poisoned Pen Press  ARC via NetGalley.                          ...

Curled Up with an Earl  (The Byronic Bookclub #2)   by Amy Rose Bennett      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Be still my beating heart 💜 We have a Scottish groom (horses not marriage) with attitude and a shivery physique; a determined, twenty-eight year old spinster whose life’s work is investigating poisons; an industrialist of slimy manner!! and an unreasonable father whose work is researched by his daughter. Said father is throwing her at the dreaded industrialist Mr. Zachariah Thorne. William Armstrong is an agent for the crown racing against the clock to discover who’s poisoning highborn members of the Linnaean Society, and also threatened to do in Charles Darwin. Of course he ensconced himself in the house hold of Sir Oswald Bertram. After all SirOswald is the preeminent authority on poisons, all grown in the gardens of Fleetwood Hall. He just hadn’t counted on being blindsided by the ravishing and very different daughter of the house, Lucinda Bertram. A lively and intriguing...

Knot of Shadows  (Penric and Desdemona #11) by   Lois McMaster Bujold           ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Elegant writing as ever. Penric is called to an unexpected happening. A dead body with a sundered soul trapped inside it. Penric’s investigation follows a series of events, some sad, some, like his confrontation with a downy pair of old sailors, hilarious. But finding the body of the sundered spirit and then finding who’d been dealing in this sort of magic produces some startling insights. My favorite demon ridden sorcerer never fails to interest. A stunning cover accompanies this special edition hardback. A Subterranean Press ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun  (Finlay Donovan #3) by Elle Cosimano            ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My favorite, scarcely holding it together, burier of bodies, writer involved in criminal activities by accident, Finlay Donovan is once again sucked into a situation not of her making. Russian mob boss, Felix’s Zhirov is demanding her help to find Easyclean, a contract killer, and there’s little or no room for negotiation. It seems there’s also a mole in the police department. Sussing this out will take a keen eye and mind and absolute discretion—none of which Finlay cultivates. Neither does her account/nanny/ partner-in-crime, Vero. To discover the perp will take infiltrating the police force and a course with the Citizens Police Academy supplies the cover needed. Oh and Vero has some criminal types from a loan shark after her.  Her husband Steve is up to his old tricks. They all fall short but not without putting Finlay into embarrassing, if not outright da...

Murder at the Seven Dials  (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #1) by   Cara Devlin  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Coldly competent Bow street runner meets stubborn Duchess in high indignation over  arrest of her husband for murder.  Philip Sinclair, Duke of Fournier has secrets, as does Audrey Sinclair, his Duchess. Their marriage is that of true friends and in no way was she going to allow Philip to be framed for the murder of the actress / opera singer, Belladora Lovejoy, of the Drury Lane Theatre. Hugh Marsden, a principal office with the Bow Street runners has his own secrets not all revealed, but the ton has plenty to say Belladora, brutally murdered, is some one’s mistress, but whose? Audrey has an ability that had caused her to be locked away in an asylum, the Shadewell Sanatorium, by her family, thinking her mad. Objects speak to her. She’s ready to risk all to find the true culprit. A foray into gaming hells and worse has Hugh on edge and fearing for Audrey’s safety when he’s n...

The Marquess Club Killings (DI Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller #5) by Gaynor Torrance         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Inspector Jemima Huxley has started back at work as a Detective Inspector with the Welsh police force after maternity leave. She expected to have a time to slot back into the team, n ot hit the ground running. A high profile judge has been abducted, and it turns out that less than ten miles away another man had been abducted, except he’d died. Are the two linked? As Jemima and her team investigate things don’t add up. It seems the judge belongs to an exclusive club that has within that an even smaller exclusive cadre of members. What Jemima and her team discover is corruption in high places, spread across the police force, and powerful men who know no limits. This book was slow to start. I almost gave up. That slow start was completely put behind me once the action took off and notched up to high gear. A Joffe Books ARC via NetGalley.         ...

The Bullet Garden  (Earl Swagger #4) by Stephen Hunter      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just what has Gunnery Sergeant Earl Swagger become involved in? World War II, and it looks like German snipers are targeting forces on the front. Not just any soldier but those in command. Swagger is sent to track the snipers down. On his side he has to cope with Realpolitik within the command situation.  Realpolitik is something like seeing into the future, beyond the tactical, beyond strategy. Taking the long game! Then there’s the  possibility of an enemy spy amongst the personnel, someone else is attempting to pull rank for their own benefit, and oh my gosh, a myriad of other situations. I admit to my eyes glazing over as various rifle and scopes were discussed in detail but the action was well worth me skipping quickly through those descriptions to the more meaty aspects of the chase, of moves and counter moves and the growing certainty of what is uncovered and dealt with. The spy wa...