eyes.2c Reviews

The Killing Stones  (Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves #1) by Ann Cleeves             ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jimmy Perez has moved from the Shetlands to Orkney. Jimmy is now married to Willow Reeves and they’ve made their home is Kirkwall, Orkney, off the northern coast of Scotland.   They have a son James and Willow is pregnant with their second child. Willow is Chief Inspector who oversees policing over the islands of the northern Scottish coast.  Jimmy is a Police Inspector for Shetland and Orkney. In some respects Willow is Jimmy’s boss. It’s Xmas. The family’s preparing for the season the way it happens on Orkney. Willow finds  a  note from Jimmy when she arrives home from Aberdeen. Archie Stout his best friend is missing over at the island of Westray. The search for Archie turns into a search for a murderer. Archie was discovered dead, stricken down from behind. The murder weapon is one of a pair of Neolithic stones with Norse writing on it....

Falling in a Sea of Stars  (Green Rider #8) by Kristen Britain         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I remember where it all started, The Green Rider! I was so caught up in the adventure of it all. Now it’s over twenty-five years since I first read The Green Rider. Wow!  Then came Green Rider’s Call. Again a winner. Interestingly I don’t remember the series being touted as young adult reading matter. To me it was a simply a great series of fantasy novels to be enjoyed by all.  Some of the later novels I found I was not so invested in. That happens. However Falling in a Sea of Stars takes me back to my initial celebrations of the Green Rider series. Fabulous! A DAW ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Murder at Somerset House  (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #9)   by Andrea Penrose                 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In which Charlotte and Wrexford gain a new resident!? Such a lot is happening here. The weasels somewhat reluctantly have a new member join their group.  A British scientist is killed at Somerset House, and Charlotte and Wrex are asked to investigate. Napoleon escapes Elba. Raven learns more about economics, bonds and the stock market. Danger is everywhere. The weasels narrowly escape death. Wrex is hard put to keep his extended family safe. There’s a traitor highly placed divulging secret information. A thoroughly “on the edge of my seat,” page turning read. The author’s notes are fascinating. Penrose declares her research led her down to various interesting blackholes, and her attention to detail is a thing of beauty. Another fabulous read from Penrose! A Kensington ARC via NetGalley.         ...

The Nanny's Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes  (The Parasol Academy #1)   by Amy Rose Bennett                  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dizzying, delightful romp that puts Mary Poppins in the background seat. Mrs. Emmeline Chase has just finished her nanny training with the Parasol Academy for Exceptional Nannies and Governesses. The Academy has been given a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria and fae Queen, Mauve. Ley lines and magical words are all par for the course. To say that Emmeline seems to more often than not find herself in curious situations is an understatement. En route to an interview with a prospective employer by te-Ley-porting she finds herself on the roof of a large house and is rescued by a magnificent talking Raven and the master of the abode, Xavier Mason, the seventh Duke of St Lawrence. Next thing we know our heroine is employed by the Duke to oversee his three wards, a handful. But our nanny is no slouch. Meanwhi...

To Heist and to Hold  (Wimpole Street Widows #1) by Christina Britton       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Heloise Marlowe, an inhabitant of the Widows Club had a pressing problem. Her sister-in-law Julie has had a valuable heirloom necklace belonging to her employer go missing. It had been used at her employer’s insistence, to bet with at the gambling club Dionysus. When Julie went to retrieve it the next morning there was no record of it. How that all happened is another story. Suffice to say if the necklace is not found Julie will be accused by her employer of theft. The penalty for that crime is death or transportation. Heloise and the widows concoct a plan. Now all Heloise has to do is seduce the owner of the club Ethan Sinclaire. Something Heloise is not sure she can do. Meanwhile Ethan has heard rumours questioning the honesty of his club. This is his worst nightmare. A club’s reputation is all that stands between success and failure. The slightest hint of trouble could ruin the c...

Dinner at the Night Library  by Hika Harada        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beautiful story about a young woman, Otoha Higuchi, who takes up employment at an unusual library—the Night Library.  This is a place that collects or is left a deceased successful author’s books, including those they wrote or that they read. It is only open between 7pm - 12am but work is from 4pm - 1am.  We see most of the story through Otoha’s eyes. The library, being on the outskirts of Tokyo, has its own residential dorms where employees can live rent free. Their main meal are provided by the company’s chief Mr. Kinoshita from Ginzo, another curious character. Generally the meals are taken from novels. They all sound delicious. Certainly the staff appreciate them. The owner is unknown but the go-between is the manager Mr. Sasai. There is a mystery here, some of which is revealed towards the end. Delightful, yet deeply introspective, the story is as delicate as the wind rus...

A Tale of Two Dukes  by Emma Orchard        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Viola Constantine married Edward,  the  Duke of Winterflood, a man older than her father. He wants an heir, she wants support for her sisters. The thing is the Duke is impotent. So comes the time when seventeen years old Viola is entrenched on his estate, slowly going mad for something to do Enter the Duke’s nephew, Richard whom Edward engineers towards cuckolding him to attain his desire for children at any price. A breathtaking, steamy Georgian romance novel about a marriage of convenience, of anguish, of lies and manipulations, and of second chance romance. A Boldwood ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

A Dark and Deadly Journey  (Evelyne Redfern #3) by Julia Kelly        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Evelyne Redfern and her partner David Poole are being sent to Lisbon to track down a missing informant by the name of James Winn. However that’s not all.  Unbeknownst to the Special Investigations Unit, a secretive branch of British Intelligence, Evelyne’s father Sir Reginald has contacted her with a request. A request that cuts across her original instructions and accidentally involves her in murder. Well to be fair, that happened on the plane to Lisbon. Evelyne races back onboard to rescue her latest detective novel only to find a man sitting in his seat—dead! Evelyne finds herself in plots, counterplots, smuggling, treasonous behavior, and oh yes! Her father! A witty, fast moving spy novel with a What!! ending that left me wanting more and gasping in disbelief! A St. Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.                     ...

A Grave Gift  (Electra Poole Mysteries #1) by Christy Carlyle   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interesting beginnings to a series about a woman in the late 1870’s who sees visions by touching objects or people; flashes of what might be or been. It’s a troubling ability, one that Electra Poole is slowly coming to terms with. Electra finds herself acquiescing to holding a private séance in Mayfair at then home of Lady Becknell when begged to by the lady. When Lady Becknell is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her own home, Detective Inspector Gideon Pierce is called in. It’s determined that Lady Becknell has been murdered. Her recent acquaintances are questioned, including Electra. Gideon and Electra have history. She’s always found it hard to talk to him about her gift—or curse. What Electra doesn’t tell Gideon is Lady Becknell gave to her a locket. An object that might have bearing on the case. Thrown together during the investigation Gideon and Electra form a rather formidable team. Whe...

Feast for the Ravens  (Bradcote & Catchpole #13) by Sarah Hawkswood       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hugh Bradcote, the lord Undersheriff of Worcestershire, and his companions, Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, are called upon when a Templar knight is found murdered in the bushes near to Ribbesford. It seems all might be t ied in with the dealings of Kings and Queens and a  Lord of the Welsh Marshes.  The dead knight had a treasonous vellum upon his person. If true, havoc would ensue. Eventually, a tale of treachery and hate comes to the notice of the Undersheriff. Years ago the wife of the Lord of Mitton, her son and daughter, were killed in a fire—murdered. Prior to this one daughter, Rohese, had been cast out as a leper . This unfortunate woman was not a leper she was a rape victim, horribly disfigured. She’d lived in the forest with the ravens, little seen and when so, thought of as a spirit, Hrafn Wif, the Raven Woman. Was the knight killed by a spir...

Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer  (Lady Darling Mysteries #1 )                                    by Colleen Gleason         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Delightful Victorian cozy mystery romp starring the eccentric and lively Lady Darling,  Irene Colchester, Dowager Marchioness of Darling has reluctantly returned to society to sponsor a friend’s daughter for the season. It’s  nine years after the death of her beloved husband Edward,   The unusual Lady Darling feels that now she’s fifty others will make allowances for her idiosyncrasies. Mind you her French modiste Claude keeps designing her dresses with a low décolletage—the discussion about this is hilarious. As Lady Darling is not in her dotage no-one believes her. She’s as sharp as she ever has been. Lady Irene had an unusual childhood having been the daughter of a ship’s captain. This accounts for her straight thinkin...

Cloaked in Deception (Spencer & Reid Mystery #4) by Cara Devlin    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Detective Inspector Jasper Reid and Leonora Spencer are separately attending an annual benefit dinner for the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage at the home of Sir Eamon Giles. Dinner has just started when masked robbers break in, steal all the valuables, and in what seems like an intentional action, shoot and kill the woman seated next to Leonora. They then take Leo as a hostage. Jasper’s blood runs cold. What will become of Leonora? The woman whose been murdered is a Mrs Seabright. She had been one of the original charity cases. Her husband had been killed whilst on duty. Mrs Seabright’s children had been eligible to be sent to the orphanage. The links between the dinner, the orphanage and the killing only become apparent after an arduous and complex investigation by Leo and Jasper. Leonora’s Uncle Claude can no longer perform autopsies. The current doctor, nephew to Sir Giles, has seen Le...

A Whisper in the Shadows  (Raven & Wren #4) by Darcy Burke       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Hadrian Beckett, Lord Ravenhurst and Matilda Wren are once again involved in a murder inquiry with an Inspector William  Maxwell. Maxwell has asked for Tilda’s assistance to enquire about a fraudulent funeral saving society, the Coleman Street Ward Amicable Society. They go undercover as a married couple in the Coleman Street Ward, London. Hadrian decides to join them as Tilda’s brother. Maxwell agrees. Unfortunately they find their case crossing with Inspector Chisholm’s murder case of one of the Association’s canvassers and then a director. Dancing the line of what they can do and can’t do is a complicated business. I found getting to the true facts acceptable but a bit of a slog. Hadrian and Tilda’s relationship continues to be a puzzle for both of them. The basis of the story of burial clubs and friendly societies set up in Victorian times to protect the interests of the various...