eyes.2c Reviews

Tipping Point  (Detective Kate Miles #3 ) by Dinuka McKenzie              ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Northern Rivers NSW. Kate Miles is a cop who’s returned to work in her home town of Esserton. But now two men are dead, childhood friends of her brother Luke. One, Antony Reed in Sydney, the other Marcus Rowntree,  son of a local film star. Marcus appears to have fallen and shot himself whilst out in the paddocks drunk, taking potshots at rabbits. Luke, Kate’s brother has come home for Marcus’ funeral and to escape the fallout from a sex scandal with a coworker and the very real possibility of charges being laid, is viewed as a possible suspect in Marcus’ death. Kate finds herself relegated to the back row when the new acting commander of the station turns up. He turns out to be an ex lover. Kate’s been trying to move forward with her marriage and career, thus the relocation. Career and family relations have become even more complicated. Even more so when Ant’s...

Dancing with Dragons  by Jenni Ogden    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Starkly beautiful story set  on the Western Australian coastline, four hours drive north of Perth.  It’s 1977 and Gaia and her brother Bron are having dance lessons with their mother in the studio. Gaia’s mother Margot had been a famous ballet dancer with the American Ballet Theatre company in New York.  She’d married an Australian and they’d settled back here at Goshawk Gardens. Gaia and Bron had been trained by their mother in dance from a young age. Their mother’s long term vision was that eventually Gaia and Bron would go back to the States to take up dancing careers.  Theirs was an idyllic life spent off grid, on a pristine bay, growing enough food for themselves and to sell. Their nearest neighbours were on an adjoining plot of land. Gaia  had been out snorkelling when she’d spotted two sea dragons involved in their courtship dance. It was stunning. Gaia was overcome by the beauty of it. Tha...

Daring Debutante (Duchess Society #8) by Tracey Sumner  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What to do with a wild child who stirs your blood? Nigel Streeter knows he’s not worthy of his mentor’s daughter Arabella. Xander Macaughley was his father’s closest friend. Tobias Streeter is hailed as the Rogue King of Limehouse Basin. Nigel sees Xander more like an uncle who’s befriended and guided him. He now runs Xander’s gambling palace the Devil’s Lair near the Limehouse Docks. Nigel’s known Bella from a childhood. In his eyes he’s too old for her. He has no society background, nothing except his wits. Besides he’s vowed never to fall in love or become entangled with innocent young things. The problem is that Bella has set her sights on Nigel. He’s not going to win when pitted against the determination of this wilful young woman. A young woman who’s been very much brought up to be an independent thinker.  Part of Sumner’s Duchess society series, this one’s a winner, An amusing, steamy novella where the ...

Saved by the Lyon : The Lyon’s Den Connected World by Laura Landon     ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sweet romance with just a smidgeon of danger. Lady Violet Slushman finds herself orphaned when the ship her parents and sister were traveling on to America was lost at sea. Violet is now a very wealthy heiress, alone in the world, and besieged by men who’d go to any lengths to make her fortune theirs. Violet seeks the help of Mrs Dove-Lyon. Major Phillip Eversley, second son of the Earl of Markham returns from fighting the French to find his father and brother dead and himself the heir to a pile of debts.  Mrs Dove-Lyon has a proposition should he care to accept it. Violet has no illusions about her plain looks. Her mother has drummed that into her over the years. Marriage to Markham might be the right move to protect herself, but will that be all she can expect? Will Mrs Dove-Lyon’s solution be the right one for her? An enjoyable, slightly predictable, read. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley. ...

A Matter of Class  by Mary Balogh      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Two families  sharing a boundary  at odds with each other.  The hint as to why is wrapt up neatly in the title. One a haughty lord, the Earl of Havercroft, who has forbidden his wife and child to even look at the other family. Difficult, as that sat on opposite sides, adjacent to each other every Sunday morning! The other is a wealthy coal merchant, who is kind and loud.His family’s social status is far from that of the beau monde. However the Earl’s daughter Lady Annabelle ran away with their groom and quite disgraced herself. (And yes, there’s a story here) Society has shunned her, the Earl’s pockets are to let. What to do? Meanwhile the son and heir of the wealthy merchant, Reginald Mason, has driven his father to distraction with his racketty ways. His father’s finally threatened him with marriage, or struggle without funds. So a situation that could perhaps suit all concerned has turned up. Mmm ...

A Refiner’s Fire  (Commissario Guidio Brunetti Mysteries #33)   by Donna Leon  Young teenagers are forming what are called “baby gangs” They’re fighting each other on the streets of Venice late at night. They’re highly volatile, pumped up with testosterone, and heedless of anyone crossing their path when in the grip of battle fever.  Commissario Claudia G riffoni confesses to Brunetti the danger she feels, and the trouble brewing. Arrests are made after one battle in the Piazzetta.  G riffoni is on duty that night, taking part in recording names and arranging for parents to collect their sons.  All are picked except for one boy, Orlando Monforte. Griffoni walks him home, a somewhat unwise move as it transpires. They have coffee and pizza at various places enroute to his residence. It turns out Orlando's father is a hero of the Iraq War. His troop was on duty as peace keepers in Iraq when their headquarters was rammed by a truck filled with explosives. ...

My Lady's Secrets  by Katy Moran    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Exciting tale of an Irish society bride who’d been left to languish by her husband only to be seduced by the Duke of Cleveland at a ball. They were discovered. No retribution for the Duke, but Cressida was disgraced. After harsh words with her husband Cressida fled on the next transport to Portugal and the Peninsula War. From there she followed the drum with a regular Irish soldier, O’Malley. It was after the seige of Badajoz in Spain that her husband found her about to be ravaged by soldiers. So her unforgiving husband,  Lieutenant Colonel Lord Greville Nightingale arrested his errant wife for treason. However, it was  Major Lord Arthur Lascelles of the Peninsular Corps of Guides who shipped her home. In England she’s persuaded to work for Lascelles, partly to bring her friend George Byron and her renegade father to account. (Oh yes, so much history here!) Cressida travels  to the highlands with her Greville, ...

Murder in Punch Lane  by Jane Sullivan     ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really wanted to love this. I’m familiar with the laneways  around this area of Melbourne. Chock full of the city’s history, where the dark underbelly of the city met the rich and powerful. A step away from Parliament, a whisker from the Melbourne Club. When Marie St. Denis, a highly regarded actress and best friend of Lola Sanchez, dies in Lola’s arms, Lola decides to find out who’s responsible.Lola’s a struggling actress.  The police won’t investigate. The coroner, a friend of Marie’s has ruled Marie’s death as suicide? Lola seeks the help of Magnus Scott, popular newspaper reporter, aka the Walking Gentleman. A solid mystery for sure but didn't  quite inveigle me. An Echo ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher

False Witness  (Abbot Agency Mystery #17) by Veronica Heley    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bea Abbot runs a domestic agency, and it seems a sideline in solving mysteries like murder. Her husband Piers whom we catch glimpses of through phone calls is a renowned portrait artist. He’s off in the Balkans having troubles of his own. ( I’m not sure what to make of Piers. Perhaps previous novels give a clue.) Bea receives a phone call from friend and previous client the now Sir Julian Marston-Lang. Julian, much to his surprise, has inherited a manor complete with disgruntled relatives, missing funds, and angry previous employees. Julian now finds himself with a mouldering pile of a house that needs extensive repairs and no funds as they’ve been stuck in an offshore account by his “some kind of uncle” Frederick, who’d thought he was the rightful heir. Julian’s had to close down the Amusement Park and the Home Farm due to health and safety concerns. The villagers are angry over lost jobs. All backg...

The Mummy of Mayfair  (Irregular Detective Mysteries #2) by Jeri Westerson   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Eygptmania and mummy unwrapping parties is sweeping the drawing rooms of London. Everyone is into it. All want a little bit of the exotic, or to be delightfully horrified by the rumours of curses. I was rather repulsed by the information from one Mayfair darling that,  “after the uwrapping  they ground the poor fellow into powder. It was supposed to have magical and  medicinal properties. [She kept the ground remains]in a little bottle on [her] dressing table. They have   absorbed the sunshine and starlight of a different world than ours, when magic was tangible.”  As another guest stated, “a little macabre!” Detectives Timothy Badger and  Benjamin Watson, former Baker Street Irregulars, now protégées of the famous man himself, Sherlock Holmes, have been hired Doctor Enoch Sawyer as Security at his unwrapping party. However Sawyer is late and his partner Docto...