BOOK REVIEW: The Marriage Method by Mimi Matthews

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

The Marriage Method by Mimi Matthews is the second book in the Victorian romance/mystery series, The Crinoline Academy Novels. (Book 1 was Rules for Ruin.)

Nell Trewlove is a teacher at Miss Corvu’s Benevolent Academy for the Betterment of Young Ladies, a school for orphans and castaways, where she was once a student. The Academy gives girls an education to prepare them for lives as governesses or other respectable positions. It also prepares them for life outside the school by teaching them self defense.

The school’s secret is that it also teaches girls of exceptional ability to be crusaders for justice for women. Nell, with her remarkable intelligence and stunning good looks, was intended to be one of Miss Corvu’s prize pupils, but a childhood accident has left her with a limp and chronic pain. Which is why Nell is most comfortable within the confines of the school.

However, Miss Corvu sends her on a mission to London, to be interviewed by a pesky journalist, Miles Quincey–the editor of a London newspaper--who has taken an all-too-particular interest in the school. Nell discovers him to be young, very handsome, and intense. Unfortunately, during their short interview, Nell becomes entangled with the stray cat Miles has taken in. And as they are disentangling her, they are interrupted by one of Miles’ employees and a clergyman acquainted with Nell. What they see is quite compromising. Setting the stage for a quick, necessary wedding to salvage both of their reputations.

Nell had another reason for going to London. A girl from the workhouse had been offered a place at Miss Corvu’s, but had disappeared at the London train station while en route. Fearing she had been abducted and likely taken to a brothel to be forced into prostitution, Nell is determined to find and rescue her. Miles also has a dilemma to solve. One of his journalists has gone missing, and is presumed to be in danger. Is it possible the two mysteries are related?

This is another wonderful book by Mimi Matthews. Although attracted to one another from the start, the romance is a slow burn. The mystery, and its attendant dangers, are what propel the plot. The book can stand alone, but I recommend starting from book 1. And I’m looking forward to book 3!

BOOK REVIEW: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys writes superb, gritty, YA historical fiction. My history/historical fiction book club chose I Must Betray You for our next meeting, and I flew through the book.

Cristian Florescu is a 17-year-old high school student in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Romania is under the thumb of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena. It was one of the most repressive regimes of the Eastern Bloc. The Ceauşescus lived in obscene luxury while Romanians starved. The currency was so worthless, Kent cigarettes were used for bartering. Obtaining food meant standing in long lines, with no guarantee of there being anything left. It was all the things you hear about failed Communist states, and worse.

The worst was the constant surveillance. Cristian lives in a one bedroom apartment with his parents, sister, and grandfather. His grandfather is outspoken about the loss of liberty and corruption of the regime, but everyone else speaks in whispers. Cristian is inspired by his grandfather’s bravery, and keeps a secret notebook about what life is like.

Cristian is coerced into becoming an informer when a security agent finds a minor crime to hang on him. The agent promises medicine for Cristian’s grandfather, who his dying of leukemia. As Cristian falls deeper into the deceptions he must undertake, he grows increasingly paranoid and distrustful of those around him. The fear and loneliness is palpable. And yet, he holds onto hope.

I Must Betray You is a fascinating look at Romania at the time of the collapse of the Soviet empire, highlighting the terrors of the police state and the bravery of the resisters. It’s hard to believe this was 1989. In some ways, it seems forever ago, and in others, just yesterday. Highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: Three Guesses by Chris McClain Johnson

I’m in luck! Here is another epistolary novel. (Actually, this one is a novella.)

Three Guesses by Chris McClain Johnson is a heartwarming story of an unconventional friendship among three grown-up pen pals.

Sam Brooks gets the ball rolling by connecting with Pete Wren (an artist who donated a painting to a charity auction) and Richard Mabry (who bought the painting, perhaps inadvertently.) Sam worked with a temp agency who sent her to the company coordinating the auction, and she wanted to know the story behind the sale.

Richard dives right in. Pete joins in, reluctantly at first, but then becomes as committed a writer as the other two. They live in different parts of the country, have different backgrounds, and have different struggles. Because of the anonymity of the endeavor (they have a pact never to meet in person), they find themselves opening up, becoming intensely honest, and then genuinely caring about one another. Although the letters are not frequent, and one or the other falls away from time to time, the friendship they forge is one of the strongest connections of their lives. 

Beautifully written, the novel explores the importance and joy of enduring friendship. And may make you wish the art of letter writing was better appreciated now.

BOOK REVIEW: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

I’m always a bit hesitant to read a book with overwhelmingly positive buzz. What if I don’t like it? But when I heard The Correspondent by Virginia Evans was an epistolary novel, I couldn’t resist. I’m a sucker for epistolary novels. And this one certainly lives up to the hype.

Sybil Van Antwerp is a retired lawyer, divorced, living alone, who has spent the greater part of her life writing letters. She writes to friends, family members, authors she admires, her next door neighbor, even the customer service representative at a DNA-testing site reminiscent of 23andMe or Ancestry.com. Now that she is in later life, with little in-person social interaction, maybe lonely though she denies it, she has stepped up her correspondence. Lurking in the background is the fact that she has a rare inherited condition from which she is slowly going blind.

The reader gets to know Sybil through the letters she writes. We can see her contradictions, her prickliness, her pride, and her regrets. We learn that she is still grieving a son who died when he was school-aged, and that her relationships with her surviving (now adult) children are strained. And we watch as she makes the most of her remaining years.

This book is moving, emotionally rewarding, and impossible to put down. I kept thinking, I’ll read just one more letter. Then one more. Read it and you’ll want to go buy some stationery and stamps. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: The September Society by Charles Finch

I’ve read the first book in Charles Finch’s series The Charles Lenox Mysteries, A Beautiful Blue Death, and then jumped to the fifteenth, The Hidden City. I enjoyed them so much, I decided I really needed to fill in the rest.

The September Society is the second in the series. Charles Lenox is fairly well established now as a private investigator/crime solver. It’s not a particularly socially acceptable job for a member of an old aristocratic family, but Charles is good at it and it gives him great satisfaction. Although, he does feel twinges of regret that he never had the chance to stand for Parliament.

As the novel opens (in September 1866), Lenox is on edge because he needs to confess to Lady Jane Grey, his neighbor and closest friend, that he is in love with her and wants to marry. They’ve made a habit of seeing one another every day for tea, but lately, their schedules have been disrupted by other obligations. And when Lenox takes on a new case, they see each other even less.

The case that is brought to him, by Lady Annabelle Payson, a widow, is that of her missing son and a dead cat. Her son is a student at Oxford, and when she last went to visit him, she saw him only briefly. He seemed agitated and distracted. He promised to meet her at a tea shop but never arrived. When she went to his room, she found his cat, stabbed to death with a letter opener. And her son, George, was not there.

Lenox accompanies her back to Oxford to start his investigation. This is his own old stomping ground, and being there makes him nostalgic. It is a delight to experience the colleges through his eyes, and get a sense of what it would have been like to be a student there at that time. This is the cozy part of this cozy mystery. (Later descriptions of the murder victims are a bit more gruesome.)

Lenox discovers clues in the young man’s bedroom, but has no idea what to make of them. He begins by attempting to interview George’s two closest friends, only to discover one of them is missing as well. This ups the stakes. Then when a body is discovered, the seriousness of the situation escalates.

Among the clues Lenox has found is a card on which the name “The September Society” is written. As he digs deeper, the society keeps cropping up. He learns it is a small gathering of old army officers who had once fought together in India. What on earth could they have to do with the murder of a young college student?

The clues are fitted together like pieces of a puzzle. At the same time, Lenox is fretting over the fact that a strange man is visiting Lady Jane. And, his friend and investigating companion, Dr. McConnell, may be drinking too much again. And, Lenox takes on a gung-ho young gentleman, Dallington, who wants to learn the investigative ropes, but who may be more of a liability than an asset. 

The murder mystery is complex and well developed. I enjoyed the plot twists and eventual breakthroughs as Charles Lenox solved another case. And I also enjoyed watching his suit with Lady Jane progress. 

BOOK REVIEW: Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach

I read Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach for a book club. Roach is a best-selling popular science/medicine writer. The book focuses on ways science and medicine have found to replace or rig body parts that are not functioning correctly. Or, that are not as attractive or young as their owners wish them to be according to societal fads. It’s amazing what has been done and, even more so, what scientists are working to achieve. It’s also amazing the lengths the author goes to in order to get her interviews and information. This is a quick, enjoyable read, chock-full of fascinating facts.