eyes.2c Reviews

The Last Flight from Moscow  (The Spy Next Door) by Andie Newton         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mae Pierce is an ex OSS agent who’d been in Vienna when the Red Army liberated the city.   At the time she was a prisoner of a German Officer, Kommandant Wolff. She’d been tortured and more when rescued.  How she remained behind in Vienna is mixed up with drinking too much vodka, gambling and a silky black Japanese dressing gown. Her old partner Sutton Maxfield talks her into going undercover on a trade exhibition in Moscow looking for  an  unknown spy  who’s to assassinate Krushchov. Unfortunately it seems Mae’s being thrust into the mix as a trade fair model at the exhibition. Mae’s not pleased as the men from the CIA feel the spy looking for  couldn’t possible be   a woman. They leave her out of the loop. They see Mae as a “has been”. Except Mae is anything but. Sure she has her demons and her loyalties. In the meantime she’s acquired  ...

A Lyon for Luck : The Lyon’s Den Connected World by Chasity Bowlin      ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Miss Daphne Aces has been hard done by that’s for sure. She’s an heiress but her parents want her inheritance to clear their debts. Parents who are willing to trade you for money to a despicable future husband. Mrs. Bessie Dove-Lyonx helps solve her problem and introduces her to the newly and unexpectedly peer, Fletcher Quill, Lord Aldwyn  who’s come into an inheritance that’s in debt to the hilt. Once before Daphne had been abducted by someone fleeing to Gretna Green with her. As a result her fiancé broke the engagement and she is shunned by society. This time Daphne flees on her own terms. A rather untaxing lovely read. A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

False Relation  (Abbot Agency Mystery #19) by Veronica Heley        ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Returning to the world of Bea Abbot and her husband Piers, Bea’s friends Sir Julian Marston-Lang and Lady Polly of Marston Hall and the connected village, brings unforeseen challenge for Bea. For starters Julian’s step-cousin Mona has been murdered and Marcus her husband accused, although the police from the neighboring town of Askin feel that really Lord Julian has done the deadly deed.  Village life is under the microscope as Heley gives us another mystery novel with characters we love, and love to hate. I particularly liked Old Jenny and her relationship to the spirits of the Spring. I did feel that this story had run its race in the previous title. This book added a further dimension which pleasantly surprised me. A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.                                     ...

Deadly Force  (Detective Inspector Slider #26) by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If nothing else I’d give 5 stars for the wonderful banter between DCI Bill Slider and his sergeant Jim Atherton.  Their conversations around food, marriage and life are gems.  As are those between Sidler and his wife Joanna who’s an orchestral violinist. The understatements are delicious. One of their own, a cop, Constable Peter Bentley, has been found brutally bashed. The  ‘powers that be’ are pulling out all stops to find out the whys and whats.  Nothing is adding up or making sense.  It’s up to Slider and his team to do so. I’m blinking my eyes at the spoonerisms or maybe mixed metaphors of Detective Superintendent Porson. An unexpected ending reveals all. I don’t know how I’ve missed this series but I must read more. A jolly good British police procedural mystery with wit and insights. A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.       ...

  I, Spy : A Novel  by L. M. Kemp       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kendal Carter had been training as a spy all her life, since she was a very young child. She’d had so many aliases it was hard to remember them all. Her mother had been an operative and Kendal was a part of it. Now, herself a single mother, Kendal is living in Zurich with her daughter Rosie. She always has various plans for escape if needed.  As it was she was forced to take action.  Kendal found herself back in London living a somewhat normal life with Rosie attending school.  Except nothing was normal and she had been tasked to find a way of stopping a tech company from introducing an educational app that would illegally gather data on the children of the UK The lengths a mother will go to save her child is brought to the fore, but sometimes it messes with her honed instincts. An unusual tale of a spy, mother, killer, and protector. A St. Martin’s Press invite ARC via NetGalley.     ...

Fast and Fastidious  by R. M. Caldwell        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lucy Elliot is different. Operating in her world means she needs guidelines to take her through social occasions. If all she had to do was fathom a mechanical problem or design a carriage, things would be fine. Walking into a ball has her heading to a quiet nook to acclimatize. By accident Lucy discovers the Night Races. The egalitarian event is held near to the village, once a month when the moon is full at midnight. Lucy’s life is changed.  Two years later Lucy meets a cavalry Captain at the races. She’d already met the indisputable champions of the Night Races, Dante Torres and his crew. Captain James Dashwood had arrived in the neighbourhood to stay at one of his father’s properties, Ellsworth Manor. Lucy suspects he’s been sent here to avoid gambling debts or something else. Interestingly there’s been a series of government papers, coaches and men have gone missing. This quiet village has be...

The Alias Agenda  by Holly James         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Erin Daniels had been trapped into being run by Agent Wallace for over ten years She’s been undercover with as many aliases as good dinners. Now her handler has disappeared and she’s being run by another agent, Calvin Bray,  who’s just a bit too much of everything to be true. Her new assignment is to find out how a group of glam moms from a high class neighbourhood were smuggling in high end baby carriages. A walk in the park until her past and a large unaccounted for diamond come back to threaten her. A tightly written novel with enough action, empathy and romance to satisfy. A Kensington ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Death Meets Cute (Deluxe Edition)  by J. Penner       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What to do when your evil witchy powers are flagging, when you bodyguard disappears, and your finding yourself kindly disposed towards your neighbors? What Iris Weyward does is worries herself silly trying to solve the problem, brings an orc back to life and binds him to herself as her new bodyguard, and the other? Well… ! With her world turned upside down Iris and her familiar Quince (a hedgehog)(I know even I wondered at that!!) Then there’s her orc bodyguard who despite his size is cute, endearing…and bakes! Iris feels all is lost when her sisters visit her. Why? It seems all of the sisters are experiencing magic failure. How to get back their powers? An absurd bouncy love story with a difference, a cosy romantasy, that leaves you smiling. A Poisoned Pen Press ARC via NetGalley.                                    ...

The Vampyre Client  (Irregular Detectives Mysteries #4) by Jeri Westerson       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Baker Irregulars Timothy Badger and Benjamin Watson (and of course reporter Miss Littleton) turn to new case Their client is a Jonathan Wicker who has newly moved to an estate, Caurdal Hall, in Hertfordshire. The locals are convinced he’s a vampyre (ok he does wrap himself in a cloak and a wide brimmed hat and studies bats!) But since his arrival  animals have mysteriously been found with their throats mauled. Wicker wants Badger and Watson to help persuade the locals of Ashwell Village that he’s not a vampyre. The local workers had all downed tools and walked off. Wicker needs parts of the Hall to be repaired. When Badger and Watson reach their destination (along with Miss Littleton) they find a suspicious community, a somewhat prejudiced vicar, a hostile police inspector, and an angry local lord. All becomes even more fraught when there employer is found dead. After som...

White Feathers, Crimson Leaves : A Legend of the Five Rings Novel   by Josh Reynolds       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I must admit to loving Josh Reynolds’ writing. Once again we’re in the lands of the Emerald Empire This time with two wardmasters, Yogo Shuko an older woman of the Scorpion Clan, disciplined, dour even; and her younger apprentice, Kuni Tansho, who is more impulsive. They have been hired by the wife of the local lord, Lady Chimeg, rulers of the castle and surrounding lands, to rid the spirits or curses  that haunts the area of the Red Grove Keep, which has lain empty for a century or so. A thrilling, macabre story that pulls blood magic and an ancient curse into the mix, weaving them into a tale of terror and madness. The two women face a task fraught with death and magics that could ensnare them. Excellent read, anticipation is everything. An Aconyte Books ARC via NetGalley.                         ...

Hazard of the Pursuit (Spencer & Reid Mysteries #6) by Cara Devlin         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A dead woman who is not dead raises the eyebrows of Leonora Spencer. Leo is having lunch with her uncle at the undertaker’s he now employed by when a basket recently brought in by two delivery men began to move. Leo opens the lid to be confronted by a woman who definitely is not dead.  Leo sends a strange note to Scotland Yard where Detective Inspector Jasper Reid receives it. Jasper is currently courting Leo. “A detective is needed at Tate’s Funeral Service on James Street. A woman’s corpse arrived. I suspect poison. P.S. She is not dead.” A new mystery ensnares Leo and Jasper that will lead to them uncovering a pattern of disturbing occurrences. On the personal level the pull between Leo and Jasper is undeniable but how will it be resolved? And that’s not even mentioning Jasper’s unwelcome ties to the East Rip. Another succinct and lively read from Cara Devlin.   ...

A Change of Plans (Sgt. Windflower Mystery #17) by Mike Martin       ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Once more we delve into the world of now Acting Inspector Winston Windflower of the RCMP, his family and friends, his spirit guides, his relationship with those you’ve gone before, and enter his dreams with messages. I find it all fascinating! Even the tussle he and his partner Sheila are having with their nine year old daughter over a phone.  It’s not just Winflower’s day to day life and practices I enjoy, it’s the community dangers he helps solve and the programs he initiates to try and help youngsters back on track. Then there’s the food traditions the family has, the blueberry pies, the music he shares with certain friends. The mystery of a hit and run case in Marystown, part of his area, and what it might have to do with Mike Winger, an ex-veteran in a wheel chair, who’d settled in Grand Bank becomes an event that heralds major crime activities in the area. Apart from the darker sid...

Sacrilege  (Ralph de Mandeville Mystery #2) by Keith Moray        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sir Ralph, Justice of the Peace, appointed by King Edward, is going about his business in the countryside of Yorkshire when news of a nun who’d committed suicide reached him. He’s duty bound to investigate. This killing is only the first of a series of hideous deaths as though brought on by some creature from the gates of Hell. Sir Ralph finds himself in conflict over who is in control with the local Lord and the Church. The plot is complex and the deaths may well go as high as Queen Phillipa and her younger son Thomas if Sir Ralph can’t solve the conundrum  A fascinating, yet diabolical medieval murder mystery from Moray set in the 1360’s. A Boldwood Books ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.