BOOK REVIEW: The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín

I’m trying to read Colm Tóibín’s backlist, in anticipation of his new book. So I just finished The Blackwater Lightship, first published in 1999.

Set in Ireland in the early 1990s, it takes the protagonist, Helen, through a painful reconciliation with her mother and grandmother when the family is summoned by her brother, Declan, who is dying of AIDS. Helen has stayed in touch with Declan, but not closely enough to know that he has been sick for at least two years. She has a loose connection with her grandmother, who lives in an isolated town by the sea. And she is completely estranged from her mother.

Helen’s relationship with her own husband and two young sons is loving, but imperfect. She has a high wall built around her heart and is afraid to let anyone get too close.

The estrangement with her mother began when she was a tween and her father died of cancer. Rather than including Helen and Declan in the grieving process, their mother left them at their grandparents’ house, without saying why, for months. They had no chance to say goodbye to their father. They hadn’t known he was sick enough to die. And they felt the abandonment keenly.

Helen’s later experiences with her mother and grandmother were no better, as she was expected to be a dutiful martyr, helping support her grandmother’s guesthouse as poorly paid labor, at a time when she was desperate to take control of her own life. The tension when the three women are together is thick enough to cut with a knife.

Tóibín’s style is spare and beautiful. He always takes the reader deep into his characters’ psyches, so that the readers can experience the isolation and pain, and finally, a strained reconciliation. The details of Declan’s suffering are vivid, and a stark reminder of what it could be like for those with AIDS. The staunch support of his two close friends contrasts with the helplessness of his family. It is a difficult novel, but well-worth reading.

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. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I was ready to read a classic, so turned to The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I read it way, way back in middle school, but remembered nothing about it except that it was set in China. I wish I could remember what middle-school me thought about it, because I’m sure I couldn’t have understood the half of it.

Written in the early 1930s, it portrays rural Chinese peasant life through the eyes of Wang Lung. He starts out as a dutiful son, a farmer on his wedding day, going to the house of the local lord to obtain the slave, O-lan, that his father had purchased for him to marry. Much is made of the fact that she is not physically attractive and rarely speaks. But fortunately for Wang Lung, she is an incredibly hard worker and also fertile, giving him two sons in fairly rapid succession, with more children to follow.

The family endures hardship and famine. At one point, on the edge of starvation, they must flee south to the big city, where O-lan and the children beg and Wang Lung works menial tasks, until there is a local revolt. The house of the rich family there is invaded and looted. Wang Lung takes the owner’s money and O-lan finds a stash of jewels. With this, they are able to return to their home and buy more land. Wang Lung works hard, but it is really O-lan who makes it possible for them to survive. She is the brains in the family.

It turns out the only thing worse that grinding poverty is wealth and status. Wang Lung may be one of the most unpleasant protagonists I’ve come across in a long time. As his wealth increases, he feels embarrassed to be a farmer and hires laborers to work the land for him. Even though he misses it, and still understands the value of owning land, he believes he’s above working it. Worse, he never gives O-lan much thought or credit, seeing her always as little more than his slave. While this is likely historically and culturally accurate, it’s still heart-breaking. Or maybe infuriating.

As soon as he has the money, he heads off to a brothel, falls in love with a prostitute, buys her, and installs her in his house (after building her a second wing, decorating it lavishly, and providing her with a servant – all while his wife continues slaving away for the rest of the family.) For good measure, he insults O-lan, telling her he couldn’t possibly love her because she’s so ugly.

Eventually, O-lan dies. Wang Lung feels some momentary regret, but forgets about her quickly enough. He always manages to push away his better feelings with anger and a sense of entitlement. As soon as his wealth is great enough, and his grown-up sons are haughty enough, they move away from the farm into the now deserted house of the old local lord. Wang Lung essentially takes over as the new local lord. He and his family grow as decadent as the old lord. Until, as an old man, he moves back to his farmhouse to prepare to die.

But is it a good book? It’s a fantastic book. The writing is spare but beautiful. Although Wang Lung is the only viewpoint character, we can nevertheless peer into the hearts of each of the main characters. The depiction of the culture is fascinating. The book won a Pulitzer Prize and Pearl S. Buck won a Nobel Prize. So I am glad I read it, infuriating as it was.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez introduces us to the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh, Johanna. She was the wife of Theo Van Gogh. All I knew of the great artist was the rather simplistic story that he was never appreciated in his lifetime. And that his brother was an art dealer who tried, without much success, to sell his paintings. Vincent’s talent was only recognized posthumously. 

But how? There is a leap to be made from Vincent Van Gogh’s death to his later fame. The fact that he reached the heights he did is even more remarkable given that Theo died very shortly after Vincent. The credit belongs to Johanna Van Gogh, without whom his work very likely would have been lost.

In this detailed and imaginative biographical novel, Jo receives the recognition she deserves. Defying convention, the young widow does not return to her father’s house to be taken care of. Instead, she moves to Bussum, a small town in the Netherlands, and runs a boardinghouse. And raises her infant son. All the while, she fights to bring Vincent Van Gogh’s work to the eyes of the art world, selling his paintings, arranging exhibits, and writing opinion pieces. The fight is real, as she is opposed by men who repeatedly tell her women do not belong in their sphere. And she is particularly opposed by a prominent Parisian dealer, Georges Raulf, who is obsessed with cleansing the art world by destroying anything modernist, most particularly the work of Van Gogh.

It’s a hard road for Jo, but readers will rejoice alongside the heroine as her striving is ultimately rewarded.

BOOK REVIEW: The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline

The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline is a lovely, unputdownable novel of resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship. Set during the Depression Era, it’s the story of two strong-hearted people, bent but not broken by poverty and loss. Vesta Blonik is a thirty-year-old farmer, never married, who lives with her bullying father on a hardscrabble Minnesota plot. Used to hard work and her father’s belittling scolds, she is nevertheless blind-sided when he sells the land and abandons her to a future that looks more and more desperate. Vesta struggles against hopelessness, until she begins receiving letters from a stranger in North Carolina, Gordon Crenshaw, through the machinations of well-intentioned clergymen and Gordon’s not-so-well-intentioned family. It seems Gordon is looking for a wife. Beautifully written and emotionally compelling, this novel will have readers impressed by Vesta’s leap of faith and by the healing power of simple compassion.

Thank you to Regal House for an advance copy of this wonderful novel.

BOOK REVIEW: And Then There Was the One by Martha Waters

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

I enjoy a good historical mystery with a romantic subplot. And Then There Was the One by Martha Waters caught my eye, so I was pleased with the chance to review it.

Set in 1930s England, it plays with the genre, both embracing it and spoofing it.

The heroine is Georgiana Radcliffe, daughter of a country gentleman. Georgiana is resigned to spinsterhood, believing that her widowed father and younger sister can’t function without her. In fact, she’s convinced she’s indispensable to her whole tiny Cotswold village, Buncombe-upon-Woolly. This impression was reinforced over the past year when four murders were committed in the otherwise quaint village. Georgiana inadvertently solved the crimes before the constables, thanks to her superior knowledge of poisons. (She is an avid gardener.) 

However, four murders is too many. Now, the town is overrun with Murder Tourists. And when the town’s council chairman dies suddenly, Georgiana is determined to investigate, even though the cause of death was ruled a heart attack. This time, she doesn’t want to go it alone. With the approval of her best friend, Arthur, the town’s very responsible journalist, she invites a renowned investigator from London to help solve the murder (if, in fact, one occurred.) The detective declines, but sends his assistant (actually, his secretary) to help them, Sebastian Fletcher-Ford.

Sebastian is the most handsome man ever seen in the village. He unabashedly uses his good looks and charm to ingratiate himself with the villagers and Murder Tourists. Georgiana refuses to be charmed. She thinks he is annoying and none too bright.

And yet, as their investigation proceeds, she finds there is more to the man than a handsome face, glowing skin, and athletic physique.

This is a smart romp with an interesting mystery at its core, a delightful romance, and a fun supporting cast.

BOOK REVIEW: While You Were Spying by Shana Galen

While You Were Spying by Shana Galen is a steamy Regency Romance, the first book in the Regency Spies series.

Miss Francesca Dashing is the unconventionally beautiful daughter of a viscount, whose first engagement ended in disaster and left her emotionally scarred. Convinced that she is not worthy of love, she has determined never to marry. Back home on her father’s Hampshire estate, she tends to wounded animals, watches over her stunning younger sister, and puts up with her loving but silly mother. This all changes when Ethan Caxton, the Marquess of Winterbourne, mysteriously appears.

Winterbourne is an alpha hero who also has a traumatic love affair in his past. He is convinced all women are untrustworthy. But he hasn’t time for love anyway, since he is trying to flush out a ring of smugglers involved with France.

The attraction between the two is instantaneous, though they both deny it. However, when Francesca is attacked, and Winterbourne suspects the attack might be related to the smuggling, he assigns himself the task of keeping her safe.

Of course, one thing leads to another.

For fans of high-steam romance with a touch of mystery!

BOOK REVIEW: The Hidden City by Charles Finch

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

About two years ago, I stumbled upon a cozy Victorian mystery series, A Charles Lenox Mystery, and loved the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death. It was an older novel, and there are a dozen in the series, but even though I intended to go on with the series, book 2 never rose to the top of my TBR pile.

I saw the newest book in the series, The Hidden City by Charles Finch, on Netgalley and was eager to read it, even though I’ve missed the books in between. It was delightful to return to the world of the detective, Charles Lenox, a British gentleman with a nose for mysteries. The book can be read as a standalone without detriment to the plot. However, his private life has moved on, and I want to go back now and catch up on that.

Lenox is recovering from a stab wound received during the investigation of his most recent prior case. The brush with death and the ongoing pain have him out of sorts. He is hunkering down, avoiding his colleagues at the detective agency he started. He’s having trouble re-engaging with that part of his life. Maybe feeling his age.

It doesn’t help that a favorite cousin, who made his life in India and lost touch with the family, has recently died. Lenox is named as guardian to his cousin’s twenty-year-old daughter Angela. When Angela’s ship comes in, she is accompanied by a friend, Sari. The two are as close as sisters. They don’t expect to be greeted with the generosity and open-mindedness that Lenox, his wife, and his brother show them. It’s sweet to watch the way they are integrated into the family. Lennox’s wife undertakes the task of introducing them to society, because, of course, it’s important that they find suitable husbands.

At the same time, Lenox receives a letter from his old housekeeper, who is now retired and has returned to London to live near her nephew. The house she is living in was the site of an unsolved murder, years ago, and she has been plagued by strange events that make her worry she might be in danger. She asks him for help. This is not a case he can turn down.

Lenox is a clever investigator and the mystery is complex and intriguing. Tracking down the killer takes Lenox into parts of London that are generally hidden to men of his class.

The two plots progress alongside one another without significantly intersecting. Moreover, the reader gets to see Lenox’s physical and mental recovery from the trauma of his last case.

I enjoyed these books so much that I did go out and buy one of the others in the series and I requested book 2 from the library. So I hope to fill in the gaps! 

BOOK REVIEW: Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson

Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson is a grand, sprawling, multi-family, multi-generational epic set in contemporary rural North Carolina.

Rand Jefferson Lee is a retired army colonel who is embittered about life. He has moved to a retirement community at his wife’s request. She is active and sociable, while he simply wants to be left alone. His only real activities are running (to bring on a second heart attack) and dwelling on his plans to leave her a well–provided for widow. His plans fail when she is the one to die suddenly.

Joylene is a youngish widow with a late-teenage son with Down Syndrome. She owns a goat dairy farm and hard-scrabble garden. Actually, the bank owns it and she is desperate to hold onto it so she can continue to care for her son. But the mortgage needs to be paid and she just can’t keep up.

Reba is an elderly Black woman with native blood whose people at one time populated the whole area. She is the last of her line, after a meth-addled white man killed her niece. Now, she is fostering the killer’s troubled young teenage son because her niece loved the boy, and he has no one else. Reba also has second-sight and communes with spirits, adding a touch of magical realism.

Reba and Joylene are friends, even though Reba has had nothing but pain and suffering from the white people she encounters. This now includes Rand, who smacked into her old rusting car while he was running and looking at his phone. She feels he should pay to fix the dent. He feels she is at fault and is just after his money.

The characters all have deep, dark secrets. The book is permeated with grief and loss. It takes a cataclysmic storm to bring everything out into the open in this immersive, ultimately redemptive novel.

BOOK REVIEW: Miss Morton and the Missing Heir by Catherine Lloyd

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

I’m a big fan of Catherine Lloyd’s historical mysteries. The Kurland St. Mary Mysteries are not to be missed, and neither is her current series, the Miss Morton Mysteries.

Miss Morton and the Missing Heir is book 4. Miss Caroline Morton is the daughter of an earl. However, her father gambled away everything that wasn’t entailed, including the dowries of Caroline and her sister. When he died with no known male heir, the two young girls were thrown onto the mercy of relatives, who did not treat them well. The backstory comes out in books 1-3, so I recommend reading the series in order.

Caroline struck out on her own, taking employment as a companion to Mrs. Frogerton, a wealthy businesswoman, who was pleased to have an aristocratic lady to help her launch her daughter into society. With that accomplished, and with the possibility of an inheritance coming to her through other means, Caroline is faced with the possibility of leaving Mrs. Frogerton’s employ. But not yet.

A Mr. Scutton appears, along with his mother and sister. Mr. Scutton says he is the next living male relative in the Morton line, and he has come to claim the earldom. His claim is fairly credible. Caroline doesn’t want to have anything to do with the earldom, and is content to let him have the title and ancestral home. While the old house is being fixed up (it was in quite a state of disrepair), Mrs. Frogerton invites the Scuttons to stay with her and Caroline.

Lloyd does a great job of presenting Mr. Scutton as a character to love to hate. He is arrogant, snooty, and he feels entitled to tell Caroline how to live. Of course, she must give up her employment and behave as a lady. And she definitely must give up her friendships with Inspector Ross (a detective who has helped Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton solve mysteries in the past) and Dr. Harris (a gruff, talented physician who has also been there in the past for Caroline.) Both men have fallen for Caroline, but she isn’t ready to commit to either. The reader will be as indignant as Caroline over Scutton’s presumption.

While they are waiting for Scutton’s claim to be approved by the powers that be, two murders occur. Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton investigate, alongside Inspector Ross. Scutton and his mother fume at the slow pace of the investigation.

Caroline’s calm is impressive as she deals with the insufferable Scuttons while trying to solve the murders. The novel is fast-paced and well-plotted. And the developing relationships keep me coming back for more.

BOOK REVIEW: Vengeance in Venice by Mary Lancaster

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

Vengeance in Venice by Mary Lancaster is the 6th book in the Silver and Grey mystery series. Throughout the series so far, Constance Silver, a beautiful brothel owner and Solomon Grey, a handsome, very wealthy businessman, have fallen in love while solving murders, have married, and are now on their honeymoon in Venice.

They are charmed by the magic of the city, but unfortunately, they are not able to enjoy the peace for long. Witnessing a man being beaten by a group of thugs, Solomon goes to the rescue, and while he is busy, Constance is kidnaped. Although she is quickly released, it’s clear they have stumbled into the middle of a dangerous rivalry. This event is a segue into a murder. And even though they are supposed to be enjoying their wedding trip, the pair dive into the investigation.

The motive for the murder is unclear. Is it jealousy? Greed? Political rivalry? A combination of all three? It seems everyone they meet is a possible suspect. But every time they think they’ve solved the puzzle, they are proven wrong. When the actual culprit worries they are getting too close to the truth, they may be the next victims.

This is a roller-coaster ride of a whodunit that kept me guessing the whole time. The pace gets faster and faster as the story barrels along to its conclusion. The novel could stand alone, but the nuances of the relationship would be lost. If you’re a fan of historical mystery/romance, start with book one. The series does not disappoint!

BOOK REVIEW: What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

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

What We Can Know is a new novel by Ian McEwan, author of Atonement. In it, he examines the pitfalls of trying to recreate the past by looking at fragments. What is missing may be the most important part.

The premise is clever: a gentler vision of the future we leave to posterity, but a disturbing one nonetheless. In the year 2119, after a nuclear apocalypse and climate catastrophe, England is largely submerged, leaving it an archipelago. People live in small island communities and have to take boats from one island to the other. Infrastructure is limited, but there are remnants, including higher education and libraries up on the higher ground, where scholars can suss out the lessons of the past. Thomas Metcalfe teaches literature from 1990 to 2030 to sullen college students who have no interest in the topic. He co-teaches with historian Rose Church. She is his collaborator, critic, girlfriend, and life partner.

Thomas’ area of study, his research project, is a lost poem from 2014. Composed by famed poet Francis Blundy, the poem “A Corona for Vivien,” was a birthday gift for his wife. He recited it at her birthday dinner party in front of a small number of guests. Because he wanted it to be special, he destroyed all early drafts and made only the one copy. The poem was never published. It disappeared. But the fact that it had once existed was well-documented, and speculation about it was rampant, until interest faded.

Thomas visits the archives and reads all the letters, texts, emails, and journals of Bundy, Vivien, and the guests at the dinner party to construct a story of what happened, in hopes it will lead him to the poem. In the process, McEwan builds a mesmerizing view of a future world, and a complicated look at the time we are living in.

None of the characters are very likeable, but their flaws make them seem very real. Beautifully written. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: Jane Austen: The Original Romance Novelist by Janet Lewis Saidi

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That didn’t influence this review.

I don’t read many biographies except for research for my own writing. But I do enjoy biographies of my favorite writers. Jane Austen: The Original Romance Novelist by Janet Lewis Saidi (Pocket Portraits) is a compact life story of the brilliant Regency era writer. This short book walks the reader through Jane’s life, correlating events with excerpts from her novels and letters to her family members. It mentions the speculation about possible love affairs of Jane’s, but does not speculate. It concludes with the timelessness of Austen’s work by pointing out her influence on contemporary movies, fan fiction, and Bridgerton.

Fans of Jane Austen, particularly budding fans who want to know more about her, will find this a great introduction.

BOOK REVIEW: The Hanging of Ruben Ashford by Lauren Small

The Hanging of Ruben Ashford by Lauren Small is a thoughtful historical mystery set in Baltimore in 1917-18, a place and time that can be seen as defined by Jim Crow laws. The novel fully embraces the historical setting, my favorite kind of historical novel.

Josie Berenson is fascinated by human behavior. Why do people make the choices they make? Although she has a good position in a psychology lab in Boston, running rats through mazes, a chance encounter with Dr. Nell Winters changes both their lives. Nell is physician in Baltimore, and Josie joins her there. They fall in love, and their devotion grows stronger as they face challenges together.

Nell has not joined in the white flight from her Baltimore neighborhood. She is a firm believer in racial equality and will treat both Black and White patients. However, she believes change must come slowly. Josie is more of a crusader. She wants change now.

Josie joins the clinical practice of Dr. Adolf Meyer (a real person) at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Johns Hopkins. He is also interested in human behavior, and often consults in unusual psychiatric cases. Josie’s job is to dig deeper, not only interviewing patients, but their loved ones, neighbors, servants, etc.

While some of her methods are not exactly ethical (like bullying a servant into betraying details she is not supposed to reveal, without considering that the lack of discretion might get the poor girl fired) Josie is effective.

The mystery is set in motion when a young White teacher at a home for “feeble-minded children” is found murdered in a stable. Her head has been bashed in. A Black employee of the school, Ruben Ashford, is found holding a bloody hammer, standing over the body, blood on his clothes. According to the lawyer who has presented the case to Dr. Meyer, there are two witnesses to the murder and Ruben has confessed. Yet the lawyer doesn’t quite believe in his client’s guilt because there is no motive. Dr. Meyer assigns Josie the task of investigating the murder, not to find the culprit, that’s pretty clear, but to find out why he did it.

As Josie begins her investigation, she is confronted with the reality of the racial divide in Baltimore, which seems much greater than what she was accustomed to in Boston. As Josie struggles to understand Ruben Ashford, Nell fights the Spanish Flu epidemic that is decimating the inhabitants of the city. 

The novel puts on display the injustices of the day, the horrors of the epidemic, and the challenges two women face loving one another. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Man in the Stone Cottage by Stephanie Cowell

The Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne) are renowned nineteenth-century authors whose writings are admired to this day. Their romantic, atmospheric masterworks (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, and others), have always inspired curiosity about the authors themselves. As the daughters of a country curate, they lived fairly circumscribed lives, and yet they certainly evoke far-ranging passions in their novels.

The Man in the Stone Cottage: A Novel of the Brontë sisters by Stephanie Cowell explores the lives and loves of these women through the eyes of Charlotte and Emily. Charlotte, who craves love, has attempted to leave home, to earn money as a teacher and, perhaps, expand her horizons; she returns, disappointed, to the security of home. Emily never wants to leave. Wandering the surrounding countryside is escape enough. She does not seek romantic love, but nevertheless, love—in the shape of a mysterious man who has come to occupy a hidden stone cottage on the moors—may find her.

In this beautifully written novel, Cowell breathes life into these two extraordinary women as well as the more peripheral characters: their sister Anne, their loving but overbearing father, and their derelict but beloved brother Branwell. Within their experiences are hints of the inspiration for events in their novels, but these are so subtly woven in, readers will not mistake the Brontës’ fiction for being autobiographical.

The tone of The Man in the Stone Cottage is bittersweet. The love and support of the sisters for one another is keenly felt, but they are not blind to each other’s foibles. Their devoted care of their father and brother is not without a tinge of resentment. (Or maybe this reader is resenting them on behalf of the sisters.) Their lives are not as limited as a cursory look at their biographies might imply. While this is a work of fiction, not biography, there is nothing in the story that rings false. Cowell’s novel provides a window into the hearts and minds of the brilliant writers and then expands upon what is known with an imaginative look at what could have been.

Thank you to the author and Regal House for a review copy!

BOOK REVIEW: Crooked Cross by Sally Carson

There is a bookstore in the UK that I’m determined to go to one of these days. Persephone Books specializes in reprints of neglected/forgotten female writers. I’ve discovered a few great novels from the bookstore’s instagram posts, but one in particular caught my eye recently. Crooked Cross by Sally Carson, originally published in 1934, is set in the early days of Hitler’s rise to power. At first, the re-released edition was not available in the U.S., then I could only find the audiobook. Now, finally, there is a kindle version, that I quickly downloaded. Right about the same time, it was featured in a NY Times book review. (Here’s the link but there may be a paywall.)

The novel begins on Christmas Eve, 1932, with a celebration in the home of the Krugers, an “ordinary” German family. Both parents are alive and loving. And there are three adult children, two boys, Hemly and Erich, and one girl, Lexa. The boys have been largely unemployed for years due to the post-WWI economic depression in Germany. Both are restless, looking for something to do. Lexa is the main protagonist, a woman who loves her family, loves her community, and serves as something of a focal point in both. She’s young and naive, but strong and knows her own mind. She is also in love with Moritz Weissmann, a talented physician at the local hospital, to whom she is engaged to be married. Moritz is a Catholic, as was his mother. But his father is Jewish. Moritz is beloved by pretty much everyone and is good friends with Hemly.

The slow spread of fascism and Hitler-worship insidiously envelops them all. Her brothers embrace the Nazi party because they finally have jobs. Hemly, who is not a strong or particularly intelligent man, also loves it for the feeling of belonging and purpose that it gives him. Erich, handsome, athletic, charming, and with a cruel streak a mile wide, loves it because of the power he can siphon off from it and the license it gives him to enjoy his sadistic tendencies. Lexa tries to ignore what is happening, but she lives in a constant state of unease. Of disconnection. The book does a wonderful job of showing how the whole town is on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Tempers flare. People get crotchety and mean. Old friendships fracture. Scapegoating grows rampant. And Moritz is first quietly shunned, and then openly persecuted for being Jewish. 

The one sure, unalterable fact is that Lexa and Moritz remain true to one another.

The novel is written in an old-fashioned style. It isn’t at all subtle. It’s not a heroic, hiding-Jews-in-the-attic story of WWII Germany. The main characters are mostly Nazis. Not reluctant Nazis, but men and women who whole-heartedly embrace what Hitler is selling. Written essentially contemporaneously with the events of the novel (fictional, but not so fictional), the end of the story was not known by the writer. And it is particularly chilling because we readers, while recognizing parallels, know how this story will ultimately end, but not how ours will.

BOOK REVIEW: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club is another winner. I read The Rose Code for one book club, and now The Briar Club for another. It’s a fast-paced, can’t-put-it-down read.

The plot focuses around two murdered corpses found in a women’s boarding house in Washington D.C. in 1954. Initially, the discovery is narrated by the house. It’s gimmicky, but it works. The police are there investigating, and the house lets us know that the murderer is still in the building.

Each chapter then focuses on a different character, all boarders in the house. It goes back 4 years and works its way to the time of the murder. The central protagonist is a mysterious woman named Grace March. Before her arrival, the residents had been strangers, each with their own problems, dreams, and secrets. With her gracious and kind friendliness, Grace becomes a confidante and supporter of each. The women become a found family. But while Grace gets to know them, and brings them together, nobody really knows her.

The blossoming relationships grabbed me, and the murder mystery pulled me along. And of course, the historical tidbits kept it fascinating.

BOOK REVIEW: A Lady's Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin is a funny, closed-door Regency Romance that kept me delightedly turning pages.

Eliza Balfour, now Lady Somerset, is a 27-year-old widow who will be extremely wealthy as long as she obeys the morality clause in her deceased husband’s will. The late Lord Somerset was a miserly, much older curmudgeon, who wants to continue to control her from the grave. Eliza doesn’t expect this to be a problem. She has never misbehaved in her life. However, her cousin Margaret tempts her to live a little. What could go wrong if they spend a few quiet months in Bath?

Eliza is willing, mainly because she needs to get away from the new Lord Somerset, her husband’s nephew. Eliza and this handsome young man were in love, long ago, before she was coerced by her parents to marry for title and wealth. She’s still in love with him, but he accused her of dooming them both to unhappiness because of her lack of spirit and she’s sure he still despises her.

In Bath, she is thrown into the company of Lord Melville, a Byronesque figure who dazzles her with his charm, wit, and kindness. Unfortunately, he has a reputation as a rake, and by spending time with him, her reputation is likely to suffer. If it does, she risks losing her inheritance. Even worse, the new Lord Somerset gets to be the judge of her behavior, and he comes to Bath on a weak excuse to see her. It seems he isn’t over her, either.

Suddenly, Eliza finds herself the object of two men’s attentions. Who is the right man for her? Readers will form their own opinions pretty quickly, but Eliza has good reasons for her bafflement. Can she be in love with them both?

This novel is sweet, well-paced, and well-plotted, but even if it wasn’t, I’d recommend it for Melville’s witty conversation alone.

BOOK REVIEW: To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick

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

To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick transports the reader to the 1920s and the heady days of the archeological discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

Lord Carnarvon is an English earl, fascinated by the ancient Egyptians. He spends a great deal of the family wealth supporting the efforts of Howard Carter, a brilliant but difficult (and possibly mentally disturbed) archeologist in a quest for an undisturbed royal Egyptian burial chamber. In 1922, Carter finds King Tut’s tomb.

The novel tells the story from the point of view of Carnarvon’s daughter, Lady Eve. Eve is devoted to her father and shares his love of Egyptology. When Carter’s telegram arrives telling Carnavon he’s found the burial chamber but will await the earl’s arrival before entering it, Eve tags along. A 22-year-old socialite, Eve is far more interested in archeological discoveries than in London balls and parties. And she is far more interested in Howard Carter than in any London beau.

Kirkpatrick does a splendid job of including the reader in the excitement of the find. Lady Eve, Lord Carnavon, Howard Carter, and Carter’s assistant are the first people to step inside the chamber in over 3000 years. Although there is some evidence that grave robbers may have tapped into the chamber, the astounding array of artifacts and absence of disarray indicate that whoever was there didn’t take much, if anything. Lady Eve’s awe brings the setting to life.

The novel is meticulously researched. The artifacts are lovingly described. The political situation in Egypt is both peripheral and central to the story. And the ethical questions are explored. Who really has the right to possess these artifacts? Who has the right to tell the story of the dig? Is a little bit of grave robbing OK, compensation for all the effort?

An enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: John and Julie and Robert by Michael Strelow

 Coming soon! (can be pre-ordered here.)

John and Julie and Robert by Michael Strelow is a beautiful literary exploration of the ills of the modern world, softened by the cushion of an indestructible friendship. John, Julie, and Robert have grown from a trio of small-town children, bonded by intelligence and imagination, into three thirty-somethings who rely on that bond for unconditional love and support as they deal with the broken world they have inherited. While Julie wanders the continents to tackle head-on everything all at once, and Robert, at home, chooses the very tangible tool of the law, John takes on environmental devastation as represented by the leaf-blower. John’s cause unites them at a moment in time for one remarkable battle. Strelow’s erudite novel delves deep into the psyches of three gifted crusaders and will lead readers to cheer them on.

My thanks to the author and Regal House Publishing for an advance review copy!

BOOK REVIEW: Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr

If you enjoy satirical novels about the world of academia, you won’t go wrong with Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr. (How’s that for an author name?) Although first published in 1958, it feels surprisingly contemporary. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The novel largely focuses on Dr. Schneider, chairman of the history department, but other characters also share their views: the pompous but effective university president who’s seeking a bigger, better job; the chairman of the economics department, a schmoozer who vacuums up all the funding for his own department and who wants to succeed the president; the schmoozer’s very young, beautiful, charming wife who is bored with their marriage; the president’s Machiavellian secretary, the power behind the throne; a high-living member of a large philanthropic board, who may be the most clear-sighted of all, and others.

Although the jockeying for power, the politicking, the complaints about low salaries and unteachable students are timeless, the novel is written in an older style. It starts fairly slow as Barr maneuvers all the characters into place for the finale. He also head-hops, making the prose a bit clunky. But once you settle into the read, the style becomes less noticeable. What stands out is the irony. This novel is clever.

The characters are all unpleasant in their own way. Even Schneider, who you can’t help but root for, has some fairly large character flaws. And yet, I was entranced. Once the stage is set, the president gets the call to move up to a large state school. Then things start happening fast. 

Stringfellow Barr was a history teacher himself, who moved on to administration as a college president, and then to president of a research foundation. So it seems this book is written from the voice of experience. 

This is another old novel found in the library, but it’s available on kindle or used copies can also be found. If you’d like to see the academic world lampooned, give it a try. 

BOOK REVIEW: Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

 I received this e-galley for free from Edelweiss. That did not influence this review.

Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels (releasing on September 2) is a propulsive historical novel set in early 20th century Sicily and New York. (I could not put this one down!)

Mimi Inglese is an extraordinarily talented young artist whose rise is cut short by tuberculosis infection. At least, that is what she believes and what her family wants to believe. Her father is struggling and failing to keep the estate he inherited profitable. He decides, with the “help” of a wealthy friend, Vito Cascioferro, to move his family to New York and start over by opening a store. What he doesn’t admit, to himself or to Mimi, is that Vito has little interest in the store. Or in him. Vito has been following Mimi’s artistic education and plans to make use of her skills as an engraver in his counterfeiting business.

Readers will sympathize with Mimi’s plight as she is dragged deeper and deeper into the mob’s increasingly competitive and violent dealings in New York. Although presented with opportunities to escape, family obligations keep holding her back. 

The beautiful prose and complex family dynamics combine with an omnipresent sense of menace that kept me turning pages, anxious to see what would come next. Highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: Word of the Wicked by Mary Lancaster

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

I love Mary Lancaster’s latest mystery series, Silver and Grey, so I’m trying not to fall behind. The latest (book 5) is Word of the Wicked.

Solomon Grey and Constance Silver are now engaged to be married, but they are prioritizing the private investigator business that brought them together. The business has grown so successful that the two have taken to divvying up the jobs, which is professionally satisfying but personally miserable. They miss each other, but are left wondering if the missing is mutual.

Fortunately, a case comes along that they both jump into in order to work together again. A physician from a small country town hires them to look into an anonymous letter sent to his wife. It is mildly insulting and lightly threatening. He can’t imagine who could have sent it or why. His wife is upset. And although he doesn’t truly think there is any danger, he wants to know who was behind it.

His wife is not the only one to have received a letter. In each case, it’s the same. A small chastisement followed by a vague threat.

Constance and Solomon go off to the countryside to investigate, but soon find themselves as baffled as the doctor. Questioning the townspeople, they uncover small-town secrets, but the identity of the letter writer continues to elude them.

At the same time, Solomon is caught up in the investigation of a murder at a London tavern that may or may not have been committed by his long-lost (and newly found) twin brother. 

The letter mystery is well-plotted and kept me guessing along with the detective pair. The relationships (Constance and Solomon; Solomon and his brother) continue to grow. I’ll have to wait for the next installment to see where they go next!

BOOK REVIEW: Asylum Piece by Anna Kavan

I’m on a mission to read more “forgotten” women authors of the 1920s through 50s. (Like Nancy Hale and Maude Hutchins.) I just finished a short story collection by Anna Kavan called Asylum Piece. 

Anna Kavan (a pen name) was a British writer whose works were “nouveau roman”, semi-autobiographical, and difficult to categorize. She suffered from a difficult family life, depression, and heroin addiction. After a number of hospitalizations and suicide attempts, she eventually died from a heroin overdose. It’s a tragic life for a woman of enormous talent.

Asylum Piece is a dark, surreal collection of stories written from a first person viewpoint, a voice tinged with paranoia, delusions, and a painful loneliness. The stories are captivating, beautiful, and terrifying. The viewpoint characters (who generally seem to be the same woman, progressing in her madness) all imbue their tales with a sense of impending doom that is all the more frightening for being vague. Some are set within the asylum, and the desperation of the woman (and in one case, a man) abandoned there is gut-wrenching. What makes the work so powerful is the realism of the surrealism. In the character’s head, the goings-on are very real. 

Originally published in 1940, the book was re-released in 1972 and in 2001, so used copies are not hard to find. (I found it in my public library.) It’s well worth reading!

BOOK REVIEW: Raising Hel by Cynthia J. Bogard

Raising Hel by Cynthia J. Bogard is the powerful story of a young woman coming of age in the tumultuous 1970s in Madison, Wisconsin. The site of the University of Wisconsin, Madison was a hotbed of student activism, with particular focus on anti-war demonstrations and the feminist movement.

Hel has escaped from her small farming town and her family’s expectations that a woman’s role is to settle into a life of wifehood and child-raising. But, confused, naive, and with no real vision for her own future, she becomes involved in the anti-war protests and enamored of an older man, a Vietnam veteran, who is addicted to heroin. In short order, they are married, and Hel finds herself just as trapped as she would have been had she stayed in her small town.

It is with the help of two women that she begins to break free. Thorpe is a smart, focused, botany student who seems to have it all together. Iris is a charismatic beauty with a gift for organization who wants to start a feminist magazine. With their friendship and example, Hel begins to find herself. When her husband abandons her, she is free to start over again. Working on the magazine brings her into contact with more strong-minded women eager to grab opportunities that are beginning to open up to them. Hel meets a man who is, in every way, the opposite of her absent husband, who makes her believe in love again. But her road to personal achievement and happiness is threatened when her husband returns.

This is an inspiring story of the hard-won achievements of the women’s movement that can serve as a reminder of how far we have come, and bolster our determination not to go backwards.

BOOK REVIEW: Bigger Than Us by Debbie Burns

Bigger Than Us by Debbie Burns is a heartwarming story of second chances. 

Maddie Trudeau has just lost her husband, Landon, to a motorcycling accident. Her first priority  is seeing her five-year-old twins through the tragedy. But Maddie’s heartbreak is not limited to widowhood. Before his death, Maddie had been on the verge of divorcing him for the chaos he made of their lives.

Unfortunately, the chaos does not end with his death. Maddie still has to deal with her controlling, narcissistic mother-in-law, her own mother’s flower-child behavior, and Noel, her husband’s best friend, a man with whom she’d once been in love, a man who knows all her husband’s secrets and is conflicted about spilling them.

And then, there is Jordan, a younger woman, fighting depression as a single mother with no support network and a baby whose resemblance to Landon is unmistakable.

This is a beautiful novel of grief, compassion, and abiding love.

BOOK REVIEW: A Diary of Love by Maude Hutchins

I’m continuing to read the works of Maude Hutchins, an early twentieth century artist and novelist. Her writings fit in the category of the “nouveau roman,” not my favorite genre, but hers are fascinating and odd. (She was supposedly admired by Anais Nin.)

A Diary of Love, published in 1950, is her second novel. It was almost banned for obscenity, but rescued by the American Civil Liberties Union. It’s tame compared to what we’re used to today, but it does focus on sex and skirts uncomfortable sexual taboos.

The fictional diary is kept by an adolescent girl named Noel. She is an orphan living with an aloof, sad grandfather and an unmarried aunt. The household is also regularly visited by two hypersexualized neighbors and their son, Dominick, who is roughly Noel’s age. A few other characters flit in and out: their strange maid, Frieda, who so desperately wants a child that she has a false pregnancy and then mothers a doll; a randy very young music student; and an omnipresent doctor.

Noel is coming of age, very interested in the mystery of sex, and left to puzzle it out by what she overhears and the glimpses she catches of what goes on around her. Her diary entries are dreamy and confused, and often end with her recording her temperature. In the second part of the book, she has been sent (for three years) to a tuberculosis sanatorium in Arizona. Her life takes on a different pattern as she makes a new family there, one that is immersed in sickness and in sexual desire. In part three, she is discharged home, cured of TB, three years older, and slightly less confused about both sex and love.

This novel, and Hutchins’ others, contain autobiographical tidbits, but it’s a challenge to decipher what they are.

BOOK REVIEW: There Will Be Bodies by Lindsey Davis

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

I’ve been following Flavia Albia since she was a young girl in the Falco series by Lindsey Davis. She now has a series of her own. There Will be Bodies is book 13.

Albia has inherited a knack for investigating from her adoptive father, Falco. Her long-suffering husband, Tiberius Manlius, not only allows her this unconventional profession, but encourages her and sometimes helps her. He is a builder (and a magistrate) and has been assigned the task of looking over and cleaning up a property purchased by his wealthy uncle. The property is in the vicinity of Mount Vesuvius, and suffered in the famous volcano eruption 10 years earlier.

Sextus Curvidius, the man who inherited the property and sold it to Tiberius’ uncle, has asked them to see if they can locate his elder brother who lived there but disappeared during the time of the eruption. He is presumed dead, but Sextus would like to provide the proper funeral rites if his body can be located.

Tiberius and Albia are warned, and warn their crew, that there will be bodies, given that the estate is partly buried in volcanic ash.

Bodies are found. But, suspiciously, they don’t seem to be merely victims of the volcano. Foul play is Albia’s diagnosis. She just needs to prove it and found out who did it.

Using her trademark snark and brazenly marching into danger, Albia wracks up suspects, clues, and possible witnesses, but can’t quite choose which of the potential scenarios is the right one until she gathers all the suspects together to try out her theories. 

Although I love this series, this was one of my least favorites. Maybe Albia’s cynical/soft-hearted voice is growing stale for me. Or maybe I wish Tiberius was a more interesting partner. Or maybe the plot required a few too many coincidences. Still, the mystery is wrapped up in a satisfying conclusion. And I’m sure I’ll come back for book 14.

BOOK REVIEW: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

It was time to read another classic, so I picked the Pulitzer Prize winner, The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, first published in 1927.

The blurb on my 2004 copy, taken from the foreword, calls it “As close to perfect a moral fable as we are ever likely to get in American literarure.”

So, what is it about? It’s about the 5 victims of a (fictional) bridge collapse in Peru in 1714. The rope bridge had been there for so long it was considered indestructible. So when it broke, there were those who considered it an Act of God. The collapse was witnessed by the local Franciscan, Brother Juniper, who decided it would be a perfect test for his theory that with careful study, one could interpret God’s plan. There is no such thing as an accident. There was a reason that these five people had been on the bridge that day. These five and no others.

Brother Juniper then spends six years compiling the information in the next few chapters, the life stories of the victims. The writing is beautiful. Their stories are moving and sad. Brother Juniper’s ultimate fate is surprising. And the conclusion seems to be the opposite of what he’d hoped to prove. In the end, it is the Abbess in the town who draws her own conclusion: the only thing that lasts, that has any meaning, is love.

It’s a short book, but not a quick read. Recommended for when you’re in the mood for something reflective.

BOOK REVIEW: The Trick of the Treasure by Mary Lancaster

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

Constance Silver and Solomon Grey are at it again in The Trick of the Treasure, Book 4 of Mary Lancaster’s new Victorian mystery series. 

Constance is the owner of high-priced brothel and safe place for disadvantaged women. Solomon is a hugely successful self-made businessman. And they have fallen in love.

They are also the detectives running the Silver and Grey Agency. Their latest assignment is finding a treasure that has gone missing from the safe room of an adventurer, Barnabas Lloyd. Lloyd is addicted to treasure hunting, to the point that he has nearly bankrupted his family. This treasure, literally discovered on a deserted island with the help of an old map, is desperately needed to pay off creditors and keep the family afloat. The family consists of a grown son who accompanied Barnabas on this latest trip, a sixteen-year-old daughter who is discovering suitors,  a twelve-year-old daughter who is wiser than her older siblings, and a wife who finds life more enjoyable when her husband is away than when he is home. There is also Barnabas’ spinster sister, who is ignored at home but finds her joy in charitable endeavors.

The treasure was unloaded from the ship, inspected by customs officers, then carried to the Lloyds’ home, where it was locked in an interior room with no windows and only one door. The next morning, when Barnabas went to show the treasure to his youngest daughter, the treasure chest was empty.

Someone stole it. But who? And how?

Constance and Solomon dive into the mystery with their usual conscientious flair. Along the way, they begin to question whether the danger of investigative work is worth it. Although each is willing to risk their own life, it’s different watching a loved one do so.

This is another intriguing, well-plotted historical mystery. The romance between the two leads is progressing apace. I recommend this series highly – but strongly suggest you start with book 1.

BOOK REVIEW: Measure of Devotion by Nell Joslin

Measure of Devotion by Nell Joslin is a poignant story of a mother’s determined love set against the backdrop of the Civil War.

Susannah and Jacob Shelburne are South Carolina farmers with Union and abolitionist sympathies. However, their son, Francis, is a heart-and-soul Confederate, who joined the army as soon as he turned 18. There is a good deal of quiet family dysfunction in the Shelburne home, but when a telegram arrives reporting that Francis has been severely wounded in Tennessee, Susannah sets off to find him and tend to him.

The novel follows Susannah on her journey and also takes the reader back in time to see her past and the forces that shaped her. Her inner strength allows her to overcome the difficulties of travel and the hardships of caring for her wounded son in war-torn Tennessee. When the Confederates lose the Battle of Lookout Mountain and retreat, Francis becomes a prisoner of war. Susannah must use every resource she can to win him a parole he does not want.

This is a beautifully written, moving novel that does not shy away from the devastation of war.

BOOK REVIEW: Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie

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

Wow! Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie  is a page-turner.

Sophie is a junior culture writer for a big London newspaper. She is on assignment in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, along with the paper’s top theater critic, Alex Lyons. They are sharing a rental flat provided by the company. They are work friends, not much more, when the real story begins.

Alex went to a one-woman show, put on by a young actress, Hayley Sinclair, about climate change and the patriarchy. The show was awful. He wrote a biting review and gave it one star. He filed it with his editor, then went to a bar for a few drinks. There, he met Hayley, also alone, having a drink. They hooked up. He didn’t tell her who he was, or that he had just written a potentially career-ending review of her show. She discovered this the next morning, reading the review in front of Sophie in the flat.

But Hayley turns the tables by re-inventing her show as The Alex Lyons Experience. She tells the audience what happened, reading aloud from the review, and encouraging women to tell their own stories about horrible men, particularly if the horrible man was Alex.

Over the course of the Festival, as more and more women speak up at the new show and on social media,  readers (and Sophie) see just what a misogynistic player Alex is, and how shallow and unrepentant he is. Only Sophie can see hints of vulnerability, and she makes readers see them too. It doesn’t make him any more likeable, but it does make him understandable.

Even recognizing his faults, Sophie is drawn to him. The more he confides in her, the more she learns about the forces that have shaped him, the more guiltily sympathetic she feels. And Sophie examines her own life as well. She desperately misses her mother, who died too young. She has conflicted feelings about her husband. She misses her carefree younger self and her one-year-old son in roughly equal amounts. She wonders if she is cut out to be a critic when she wants everyone to like her.

Runcie does a superb job of taking the reader into the heart of the Fringe Festival while also doing deep dives on the psychology of Sophie, Alex, and Hayley. The tension in the story keeps ratcheting up as Alex digs himself into a hole he can’t possibly climb out of, and, as a reader, I’m not sure that I want him to.

A gripping novel. Highly recommended!