eyes.2c Reviews

The Drowned  (Strafford and Quirke #4) by John Banville          ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bizarre and yet not? The thinking person’s mystery novel or not? A tangled mystery novel from Booker prize winner John Banville. Downtrodden, slightly worn ex private school characters, come together in this murder mystery that seemingly no-one solves, yet maybe they do! Set in Ireland in the early 1959’s A middle aged, separated  Detective Inspector (Garda) Strafford, a middle aged pathologist, his daughter who’s been dating the detective, and various strange or deadly characters, linked by a previous murder and school days. Then there’s the pedophile! A Mercedes sports is spotted doors open, light’s blazing. A man approaches it feeling he shouldn’t, suddenly a man emerges from the night claiming his wife has gone missing. Admittedly the man’s behaviour is strange. The plot becomes more twisted as memories are flayed, even if only to the character.  And yet, despite the ...

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park  (Evelyne Redfern #2) by Julia Kelly         ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Much as I like the exploits of Evelyne Redfern and David Poole this was just a bit bland. Heaps of happenings but I felt bogged down in the chase to discover what the murdered engineer Sir Nigel Balram had been looking for. Evelyne and David are sent to a very secret dirty tricks location in Sussex looking for something out of the ordinary when an apparent suicide turns up. Their orders change somewhat. David was supposed to be handling Evelyne’s assignment. Working out what happened was straight from one of my fav English detective novels The culprit is finally trapped down. No surprise! However we are left dangling on a cliff’s edge as the next adventure is anticipated  So, despite the not quite up to par of the first in the series I’m anxious to see what happens next. An enjoyable read nonetheless. A St Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.           ...

The Darkening H ills (Detectives Harvey & Birch Murder Mysteries #4 )  by Kerry Buchanan         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I must admit to being seduced into reading this title by the Publisher’s Blurb, “ an electrifying crime thriller full of breathtaking twists, set amid the lonely hills of County Antrim, Northern Ireland.” I full heartedly agree. This had it all, a heart stopping criminal investigation which leads into unexpected and personal places. A frenzied and horrific killing of an old man, Rob Harris, in a lonely cottage “far from the maddening crowd,” opens up so many avenues of inquiry, but all appear to be tied up in red tape! Detective Sergeant Aaron Birch is the main character. He’s been sent to this part of the world as a relief placement. Detective Inspector Asha Harris is monitoring the situation. His team is varied, unexpected and often surprising. Intriguing main and secondary characters that I’m hoping we’ll see more of. A great read! A Joffe Books ARC...

The Duke's Rapier  (Duke’s Guard #10) by C.H. Admirand        ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ah those Duke’s men. This time it’s Thomas O’Malley who rescues the Vicar of Summerfield-On-Eden’s niece, Miss Caroline Gillingham, from an unsavoury pawnbroker. First look at Caroline and his heart is smashed into his ribs and he never recovers. Cupids arrow has slain him. Of course there’s pursuit and danger everywhere and off course Caroline is a stubborn woman who goes her own way straight into danger A satisfying continuation of my guilty pleasure reads. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

I will Steal You the Stars (Scandalous Daughters of Duke Street #2)   by Alivia Fleur       ⭐️⭐️⭐️ An interesting novella looking at Victorian times from the point of view of rookery inhabitants Enzo and Mina first met the day she entered the orphanage  Years later they meet again. Mina’s been dismissed from her job because she’s fallen pregnant. All she wants is the wages owed her. She finds Enzo, now called the “Duke” and asks him to help her steal back what’s hers.  What neither of them counted on was the frisson of attraction between them. Can Enzo let go of his position in the rookeries and take a chance with Mina? A lively and challenging short read. A Spencer & Co. ARC via Booksirens                                            Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Murder in Berkeley Square  (Lady Worthing Mysteries #3) by Vanessa Riley          ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Based on Agatha Christie’s novel of Ten Little Indians, Riley has once again given us a mystery that literally chills some of the victims and the reader to the backbone. Instead of the guests marooned on an island they’re snowed in at Berkley Square just before Christmas Eve due to a punishing blizzard. Lady Abigail Worthing, her cousin Miss Flo (Florentina) Sewell and Commander Stapleton Henderson are enroute to a family Christmas in Cheapside. The Commander stops by Berkley Square to give his apologies for not attending the Magistrate of London, Lord Duncan Flower’s annual dinner, Night of Regrets, in honor of his dead first wife Anna Violet. The group attending are all men, neighbours of Berkley Square.  At the Square Abigail spies someone sitting on a seat in the square, a very dead someone. By now they’re snowed in and have to stay at Lord Duncan’s house....

Murder at King’s Crossing  (Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #8)   by Andrea Penrose         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Once again Charlotte, Countess of Wrexford and the Earl, along with the entertaining weasels and friends are caught up in murder and mysteries. Not only that but Peregrine is expelled from Eton! The brilliant Lady Cordelia Mansfield and Wrexford’s friend Christopher Sheffield are to be  married. A surprise guest is going to attend but he doesn’t make it. He’s murdered. For sometime the body is believed to be Cordelia’s cousin Oliver.  It isn’t. It’s Cordelia’s brilliant engineer friend, Jasper Milton. Oliver has disappeared which is suspicious. Is Oliver the murderer? However deeper concerns come to the fore. Had Jasper discovered the mathematical secret to building bridges with longer spans? How might this affect the situation in Europe with Napoleon sequestered on Elba and the French dissatisfied once again with their Bourbon ruler? Then there’s ...

The Cold Light of Day  (Verity Kent #7)   by Anna Lee Huber       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sidney and Verity are secretly sent to Dublin to find out what’s happened to Captain Alec Xavier. On their own cognizance they’re pursuing news of Lord Ardmore and the stolen cylinders of phosgene, a deadly poisonous gas. They’re appalled at the situation in Ireland and the British Governments policy of coercion, following the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act. The Black and Tans are a disgrace. The intelligence community is slack and privileged.  Indeed they’re asked to investigate a scandal by the viceroy Lord French. A young woman, Miss Kavanagh, of  an  aristocratic family had been attacked by the IRA in her back garden, her hair chopped off and left as an example for stepping out with a British Officer, a Lieutenant Delgrange. She was distraught by her parents’ attitude and committed suicide.  That’s not the complete story and Verity’s anger builds as she and ...

The Worst Duke in London  (Taming of the Dukes #3) by Amalie Howard         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lady Evangeline Raine didn’t want to go anywhere near London. During her season she ran afoul of the supercilious Lord Huntington who snidely labeled her Lady Ghastly. Effie is a forward thinking intelligent woman who believes women should be accord the same rights as men, should be able to be heard without being denigrated. She has a small group of powerful but different friends, two are duchesses. They call themselves the Hellfire Kitties. Effie’s mother had left her father and gone abroad. Effie has a younger sister Viola who’s lived in Paris with their aunt until now. Viola wants to go to London for the season but unless Effie goes to chaperone her it’s no deal. Effie’s arch enemy Lord Huntington has decided to woo Viola. However without Effie’s  consent he’s shot. He inveigles the impoverished Lord Gage Croft now the Duke of Vale to persuade Effie to go to London. G...

The Duke's Christmas Bride  (Drop Dead Dukes #3) by Anna Bradley      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Charming story of a glowering tight lipped duke being bested by a fairy child of a young woman In this enemies to lovers story Rose St. Claire inherits half the house she has lived in for many years, the other half goes to our terse duke,  Maxwell Alastair Hammond Burke, the Tenth  Duke of Grantham, Viscount Hammond. Their battle for ownership is a thing of drama, loss and ultimately joy. (Their first introduction when the Duke breaks into the house is hilarious.) The Duke’s hurts as a young child govern his actions as he grows into his inheritance. A dark and joyless time that reflects in all he does, until he meets Rose. He’d been dubbed the  Can he change, can he allow the magic in? A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley.                                            ...

Death by Misadventure  (Lady Emily Mystery #18) by Tasha Alexander      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It’s 1906. Colin and Emily Hargreaves have been invited to the opening of Baroness Ursula von Düchtel’s striking new villa in the mountains of Bavaria near Schloss Neuschwanstein, “mad” King Ludwig’s castle and retreat. They’d been invited through Emily’s friend Cécile du Lac. Baroness Ursula is an extensive collector of art which she’ll house in this fascinating building. The collection is large enough to have had her hire a curator to catalogue all the treasures. Emily as a connoisseur and modest collector is entranced by the Baroness’s works. Running alongside this story, beginning in 1868, is that of King Ludwig and his companions, including Niels von Schön. Niels’ father, a baron, forces Niels into marriage with a woman Niels continues to refer to as the Valkyrie. The first time he sees her is in front of the Bishop.  The lives of these three, Ludwig, Niels and the Valkyrie,...