Setting up a new series of reading for 2024

 As this year is soon drawing to a close(not fast enough for some folks, I’m sure!), plans for the new year are about to be implemented and for this blog, one big change will be both a beginning and and a temporary ending to a regular feature here.

For now, however, let’s wrap the tail end of my Series-ous Reading , which had me read five of Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness historical cozy mystery novels.

 Starting with Crowned and Dangerous, then going to On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service followed by Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (yes, there is definitely a wedding!) with Love and Death Among the Cheetahs and finishing up with The Late Mrs. Summers, my adventures with Georgiana “Georgie “ Rannoch /O’Mara have been quite the giddy trip indeed.

For those unfamiliar with this series, it’s set in 1930s England for the most part with Georgie being the thirty fifth member of the royal bloodline in line for the throne yet having to make her own way in the world due to not wanting to marry someone “suitable “ out of obligation.

While occasionally dealing with murders that fall her way(plus various secret tasks for the queen), Georgie has to deal with obnoxious relatives, her globe trotting mother and a delightfully ditzy maid named Queenie. Also, she falls in love with Darcy O’Mara, a nobleman with as little money as herself who goes on mysterious errands for king and country.

What I’ve always liked about these books is the screwball comedy vibes within the various plots, with the humor being aimed at both upper and lower levels of society.

However , these last few entries have given plenty of character development to supporting players such as Belinda,Georgie’s best gal pal who went through an experience involving a secret relationship that appears to have matured her outlook on love(for the most part) and even Queenie has gained solid skills as a cook that moves her up in the world (although not without a slip up or two there).

In addition, Georgie herself has gone from a shy young miss to being strong enough to stand up to bullies of all sorts and pursue justice for the recently deceased, regardless of risk or rank. While I may take a break from this series (I did just finish one more HRS title, God Rest Ye, Merry Noblemen, kind of extra credit , I guess) do recommend it for those looking for an engaging romp into the past that can reflect on the present at times:

Now for the big announcement: my Series-ous Reading is taking a hiatus next year . Instead, my regular reading challenge will be to read three sets of trilogies within a year and it’s going to be called Trilogy Time.

I’m also giving myself prompts for this challenge, the first being to read an author that I haven’t read before and for that, my choice is Nora Roberts and her Irish Born trilogy, starting with Born in Fire.

The books chronicle a trio of sisters, Margaret Mary, Brianna and Shannon, who find their true purpose as well as true love in their lives. Granted, I was once a serious snob about this genre(and Roberts in particular) but hopefully, I have gotten over such nonsense and willing to discover what so many others have enjoyed with Nora Roberts on page:

My next prompt is to reread a trilogy, which was tricky to decide upon but ultimately, I chose Adriana Trigiani’s Valentine novels.

The first one, Very Valentine,introduced me to Trigiani’s lively writing along with her zesty leading lady who wants to continue the tradition of making handcrafted shoes that gave her family a foothold in America when they first arrived to this country.

Learning from her beloved Gram the dedication it takes to create unique footwear while battling with her brother over selling their family’s iconic storefront, Valentine happens to fall in love with Roman, a rather appetizing chef yet on a buying trip to Italy, her eye is caught by Gianluca-and that’s just part one!

I’ve read other works by Trigiani(one of my favorites is Lucia,Lucia) and plan to read one of her newer books next year but revisiting this set of sweet and savvy stories will be a real pleasure for me:

For my last prompt, the challenge is to finish a trilogy and I’m sure some of you are wondering what would stop you from doing just that?

Well, during a sad time in my life, Cornelia Funke released Inkheart and this tale of a young girl and her father having a magical connection with books was like the porridge that Goldilocks chose, just right.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had two more books in mind and while I did read the second , Inkspell, the third one , Inkdeath, has been languishing on my TBR for a good long while now.

I plan to change that but of course, need to reread the other two first(which is why this set is going last). Since I do want to read more fantasy in the new year, this will help a lot. Should be a good way to wrap up this challenge and perhaps inspire more to come:

While all of my reading resolutions for this year didn’t go off quite as well as I planned, at least I did finish Alison Weir’s Six Queens series of books(looking forward to her novel about “Bloody Mary “ Tudor due out in the spring!) and still working on my Jane Austen journey of nonfiction there.

Making resolutions can be daunting but I think that if you’re willing to be flexible when necessary and take your time with certain goals, you can achieve plenty there. 

This trilogy challenge, for example ,is going to be done seasonally (starting with Nora Robert’s this winter into early spring) with check in posts every so often. Trying to keep things fun as well as functional.

One thing that we all can pledge to do next year is to stay positive about what lies ahead of us and focus our energies on making things better for all in need. That’s not going to be easy, no doubt about it, but I do think that we are capable of more than we truly know and can fight the good fight honorably.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year of reading and life in 2024 and happy to see more good things on and off page for us all together:

My Series-ous Reading gets Crowned and Dangerous indeed!

 My yearly Series-ous Reading challenge has taken quite a few turns this time around and now having morphed into a Five Point Page Turning Plan, is about to engage in another new twist.

Right now, however, let us proceed to talking about Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen, the tenth book in the Her Royal Spyness series of cozy historical mysteries.

Our leading lady, Georgiana “Georgie “ Rannoch is on the road to Scotland(Gretna Green, to be precise) with Darcy O’Mara, the man she loves and is willing to risk the displeasure of her regal relatives to elope with.

Fate steps on the brakes as Darcy receives word that his father, Lord Kilhenny, was arrested for murder. Lord K lost his family fortune and sold his castle to an American  businessman named Timothy Roach, who kept his Lordship on to run the stables. 

Upon being fired for allegedly doping a prize race horse, Lord K had a loud fight with Roach that makes the prime suspect when the American is discovered dead the next day.

 Despite their lack of affection towards each other, Darcy is determined to help his father out in any way he can and not only halts the hazy wedding plans but breaks up with Georgie altogether! Fearing that his family name will be forever tainted by this seemingly hopeless case, Darcy insists that it’s in her best interest to find someone else to marry.

Georgie, however, is no stranger to hopeless looking accusations and heads out to Ireland on her own to help save the day. She winds up staying with a couple of his relatives, the offbeat Aunt Oona and Uncle Dooley, whose messy house and topsy turvey ways may be strange but whose hearts are definitely in the right place on the matter:

She’s later joined by an old friend of Darcy’s, an exiled princess affectionately called Zhou Zhou who is a combination of Marlene Dietrich and Amelia Earhart with her tendency to take off in her own private aircraft for adventure.

With many shadows of doubt about the true identity of the deceased American being highlighted by Georgie and friends, the possibility of Lord K ‘s guilt grows dimmer but can the powers that be clearly see that? Or are the real bad guys able to get away with more than one dastardly deed?!:

Like most of this series, Crowned and Dangerous has numerous charms from characters both regular and new that solving the case is not entirely an overwhelming concern.

 That doesn’t mean that the mystery is neglected, rather that the main focus is on the emotional development of the players rather than catching the villain(although those pursuits are necessary to clear things up for our leads).

It’s nice to see supporting characters like Georgie’s haphazard maid Queenie start to find some confidence and skill during this caper instead of remaining in place as a perky punchline. Even Georgie has been slowly yet surely becoming more confident about dealing with things in her quietly indomitable way. It’s why I enjoy this series so much.

At the moment, I am in the middle of book 11, On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service, as Georgie heads to Italy in order to check on her best friend Belinda but also to do a little unofficial snooping for the Queen.

Seems that Prince Edward and his unsuitable paramour Mrs. Simpson are paying a visit at a nearby villa where a rather suspicious meeting of international types is happening. 

The Queen is more concerned about a secret wedding than politics yet even Georgie senses something in the air concerning the latter. So far, this trip has quite the intrigue, including some possible blackmailing of Georgie’ flighty actress mother Claire before any murder has taken place! Also, the atmosphere of Italy in the countryside is enchanting indeed:

Since these books are fairly quick reads, I am going to do a final wrap up of this particular challenge by the end of the year instead of a monthly post as usual.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not abandoning my Series-ous Reading plans altogether. In fact, I have something up my sleeve for 2024 that will be more seasonal in scope but that is all I will say at this time.

There’s no doubt in my mind that before the end of this month that I will have started Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding , the book that inspired me to tackle this whole series.

I received a promotional copy when it was first published and figured that it would be better to read the prior books before engaging with this one. Talk about full circle there! Books are like that, I suppose, taking you on unexpected journeys that become well worth the trip:

Jane and the Barque of Frailty ends and begins some Series-ous Reading for me

As some of you may know, I’ve been trying to liven up my Series-ous Reading challenge this year by finishing three books from a series in a row, calling it Triple Play. 

Well, that event is over but SR is not, as I will explain by the end of this post. First things first, my last entry in Triple Play is Jane and the Barque of Frailty by Stephanie Barron, which catches me throughly up with the Jane Austen Mystery books (at least until the finale is released this fall).

Here, we stay with Jane in London as she is proofreading her about to be published first novel, Sense and Sensibility. She is the guest of her banker brother Henry and his wife Eliza, a former French countess who is rather ditzy at times but very loving towards her sister in law.

During her visit, Jane goes to the theatre where a recently notorious figure is noticeable in the audience. A Russian princess sitting alone, whose secret love letters to powerful and married nobleman Lord Castlereagh were published in a major newspaper causing all sorts of scandalous talk.

Despite such shocking news, Jane cannot help but feel a touch of sympathy towards this young woman who was perhaps lead astray in love, much like Marianne Dashwood in her nearly ready for publication novel:

It is even more shocking to learn the next morning that the Princess has been discovered dead on the doorstep of her supposed paramour, her throat slashed. Since Lord Castlereagh’s residence is within the section of town where Henry and Eliza live, this gruesome demise feels too close for comfort.

Jane becomes more involved in this case than expected as Eliza enlists her aid in selling some jewels for one of her friends who expects her husband to divorce her in favor of a much younger woman. 

As it turns out, those jewels were the property of the late Princess and the Austen house is visited by the infamous Bow Street Runners, an unofficial police force whose capture rate is rather steady regardless of the true guilt or innocence of the parties in question.

In order to save Eliza and herself from serious criminal suspicion, Jane must mount her own investigation before the week is out or the two of them could face some deadly consequences to be sure:

While seeking answers, Jane endeavors to keep Henry fully out of this particular loop but must include a few others into this situation such as Sylvester Chizzlewit, a young lawyer who is protecting her inheritance of papers from the late Lord Harold and Julia Radcliffe, who is the Barque of the title.

Julia ‘s status as a popular mistress (to which the lengthy title term refers to) is seen in a slightly more charitable light as she is known to be to disgraced daughter of a noble family. Yet she may know much more than she is willing to say regarding the jewels which are said to be in her possession at one point.

Barron does have quite the flavor of Austen’s Regency world firmly brewed in her tea cup of storytelling here and much like Miss Austen, properly points out the hypocrisy of those folks who consider themselves “respectable “ and those deemed to not be so by society yet have more honorable notions in their dealings with others.

There’s also a bit more lively interaction in this London adventure as Jane and Eliza go undercover to the Cyprian’s Ball(sort of an underground masquerade for barques and their beaus) where Eliza gets a little too caught up in the moment there!

All in all, this story is suitably bittersweet and I am happy to be completely caught up with this series. Jane and the Final Mystery is set to be published in October and that swan song for this engaging reimagining of Our Dear Jane will be well worth the wait:

So as I was going over my next set of books for this challenge, I realized that there were five titles in Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness series on my TBR that needed to be read and deserved their own separate listing.

Therefore my Triple Plat is now being replaced by the 5 Point Page Turning Plan, beginning with Crowned and Dangerous , where Lady Georgiana‘s plan to  secretly wed her sweetheart Darcy O’Mara are put on hold due to his father being accused of murder.

The victim is a rich American who bought Darcy’s family estate and kept his father on as a horse trainer. With no love lost between the two, the elder O’Mara is the prime suspect so as his future daughter in law, Lady Georgiana accompanies Darcy to Ireland to use her sleuthing skills on his behalf.

I do enjoy this series quite a bit and it will be nice to get more caught up on these books as well. They’re just the right amount of historical fiction, humor and drama like a good season of Downton Abbey used to be:

My Series-ous Reading is haunted by Jane and The Ghosts of Netley

My Triple Play theme for this year’s Series-ous Reading takes me further into Jane Austen country with Stephanie Barron’s Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, which directly follows the SR selection from last month, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House.

Jane is still living near Southampton when she receives an invitation to secretly meet up with one of her dearest friends (and possibly more than that), Lord Harold Trowbridge aka The Gentleman Rogue.

She’s well aware of the discreet missions that Lord Harold done on behalf of king and country, even adding some assistance of her own from time to time. This is one of those occasions that requires some of Jane’s help as a woman from Lord Harold’s past has just moved into Netley Lodge and keeping his presence a secret is important for the moment.

The lady in question is Sophia Challoner, a widow with no love for English politics, particularly due to their restrictions upon the Catholic faith. Jane becomes injured during her attempts to casually observe the doings at Netley and Sophia’s courtesy towards her soon grows into a new friendship.

She soon doubts that all of Lord Harold’s suspicions about Sophia are correct but gathers up some concerns of her own as a local shipyard is attacked with a man being ruthlessly killed in the process. Furthermore, Sophia is also entertaining a mysterious American guest named James Ord and an even more mysterious visitor known only as Monsignor:

Once Lord Harold makes his presence known to Sophia, tensions rise even greater. As Jane finds herself caught between these two dynamic forces, can she truly make an accurate judgment of the situations before her, not to mention her own heart?

Having read the book that comes after this one(Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy) already, I was somewhat prepared for a certain character to permanently depart the narrative here. 

Despite that knowledge, the final scene between him and Jane was most touching and startling indeed.

What was a real surprise for me was the appearance of Maria Fitzherbert into the plot. The not so secret love(and not legally recognized wife) of the Prince Regent comes to visit Sophia and appears to have connections with several of the guests at Netley, making the political intrigue that Lord Harold is involved with rise to a much higher level there.

I do appreciate the research that Barron does  for these book and slips neatly into the storylines, sometimes with footnotes, that enriches the world around her version of Jane Austen. That blend of actual history with inspired imagination is what make the Jane Austen Mystery a real cut above the rest for me:

Soon this part of my Triple Play pleasure will be at an end as I am now reading Jane and the Barque of Frailty. This will complete the series for me until the actual last novel is published this fall.

For this story, Jane is staying in London with her banker brother Henry and his wife Eliza as she is getting ready for her first novel, Sense & Sensibility, to be released to the public.

When the shocking death of a foreign princess happens not too far from her family’s doorstep, Jane grows curious about the case and becomes even motivated to find the killer when she and her sister-in-law are accused of taking part in the crime!

Yes,Jane never did fit well into London society and as her fictional heroines Elinor and Marianne discover, such places do bring excitement of the worst kind into ordinary people’s lives most certainly there:

 

My Series-ous Reading introduces me to Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House

My Triple Play theme for this year’s Series-ous Reading challenge takes me to Jane Austen country as I endeavor to finish Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mysteries before the final entry is released. In Jane and The Prisoner of Wool House, we follow our Miss Austen to Southampton, where one of her naval brothers, Frank, is stationed with his wife Mary who is close to her birthing due date.

As anxious as he is for his first child to be born, Frank has an immediate concern about a good friend of his, Tom Seagrave, who is accused of murder. During the capture of a French ship, Tom is said to have killed the captain of that vessel upon accepting the other man’s surrender, a serious charge that could see him hanged.

Seagrave’s  main accuser is a lieutenant named Chessyre,whose motive for giving false witness may be professional jealousy as he has been passed over for promotion time and again, while “Lucky Tom” has been very successful in capturing prize money redeeming ships.

When Chessyre goes missing before the hearing ans later found dead, Seagrave’s situation goes from bad to worse. Despite being promised to be given Seagrave’s much superior ship if a guilty verdict is reached, Frank feels honor bound to clear his friend’s name and Jane is more than willing to aid him in this quest:

Jane not only bonds with Seagrave’s distraught wife Louisa (who is taking too much “health tonic” for her own good) but finds a way to visit the crew of the former French ship as a volunteer nurse.

During those missions of mercy, she comes across a French crewman that is clearly of the officer class, perhaps a ship’s doctor. His version of what happened during the siege contradicts Chessyre’s account and he is willing to testify under oath, provided that he would be allowed to stay in England.

The death of Chessyre complicates that plan and as it turns out, this new witness is more than he seems to be. Can Jane use her savvy skills to save both men before an undue justice is served?

Having Jane work with her brother Frank on this case adds a nice touch of swashbuckling to the proceedings here(including a rescue from a burning ship!) and the engaging supporting characters such as aloof widow Phoebe Carruthers, the remote yet distressed Louisa Seagrave and a very handy in a tight corner fellow known as the Bosun’s Mate enrich the story immensely.

It’s also nice to have a few moments of comic relief from Jane’s mother (who is quite the Mrs. Bennet inspiration indeed!). At one point, she hopes to match Jane up with the navy doctor attending the prisoners, something that neither party has in mind!  Fortunately, such ill conceived plans do not cause too much trouble there:

I have read some of this series out of order but when this triple play reading is complete, I will be ready to embrace what will be the very last Jane Austen mystery.

Jane and the Final Mystery is due out this October, where a gravely ill Miss Austen nonetheless takes up a search for a killer at her nephew’s boarding school. A fitting tale for Halloween and Austen fans alike, it seems.

It will be a sad ending for this series but not a miserable one by any means. Barron has enlivened the legacy of Jane Austen with these reimagined stories that both delight old fans and new, with the bonus of pleasing historical mystery readers as well. I am persuaded that this final mystery will do credit to both Austen’s work and Barron’s writing quite nicely:

In the meanwhile, my latest Series-ous Reading selection is Jane and the Ghosts of Netley,  where she becomes unexpectedly reunited with Lord Harold Trowbridge, Gentleman Rogue and secret spy in His Majesty’s service.

Their mutual target of inquiry is Lady Sophia Challoner , a widow with no love for English politics who may also be doing some sabotage for Napoleon’s government to boot.

She also happens to be living on an estate with possible haunting spirits and some all too real secret passages that would thrill the Scooby gang as well as Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey most suitably to be sure.

We shall soon see!: 

My Series-ous Reading plants a Murder in the Secret Garden

As spring is finally here, it’s somewhat fitting that the last of the first third of my Triple Play books for this year’s Series-ous Reading challenge has an outdoor theme.

Murder in the Secret Garden is the third title in Ellery Adams’ Book Retreat Mystery series, set at the quaint Storyton Hall where a hidden library is under the protection of Jane Steward and the band of guardians known as the Finns.

While those valuable books are not in danger this time around, Jane finds that she has a lot to contend as the resort is double booked for a wedding and a gathering of plant enthusiasts who call themselves the Medieval Herbalists.

Since one of the Herbalists is attending the wedding, the arrangements aren’t too bad at first. However when one of the flora admirers. a free spirited woman named Kira Grace, is found supposedly drowned during a local event, things start to get rather thorny.

When it’s determined that Kira died from poisoning, Jane suspects one of the Herbalists, a celebrity true crime maven who proudly calls herself “The Poison Princess”. While there’s not much evidence of her direct involvement, she’s not well liked within her group and a little too gleeful about the gruesome death details:

Jane and the Finns soon realize that they must look elsewhere for the killer, particularly when a local hermit aka “The Druid” is discovered to be poisoned as well.

 The secret garden of the title is grown by The Druid in order to provide natural remedies to those who can’t afford regular medicine and research materials for modern medicinal purposes.

 However, his demise occurred not long after the Medieval Herbalists paid an unannounced visit to his private plantings and to find out how his death ties in with Kira’s passing, a few secrets and lies need to be unearthed.

After taking this third trip to Storyton Hall, I have to say that this series is definitely one that grows on you.

Adams is very adapt at creating small communities of characters that feel like folks you’d like to visit and live among on a regular basis.

Having the extra bonus of a secret network of book protectors around to assist in solving the murders that turn up here enhances the various plot points and gives Jane a solid team of hero support to rely on.

Speaking of support, Jane’s love life is fortunately not neglected as suspected book thief Edwin Alcott turns out to be more of an ally than an enemy in that department , making him eligible for a romantic entanglement indeed!

I also like the subtle bookish hints within the stories such as in this entry, two of the supporting characters are reimagined gender swapped versions of the lead from the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic alluded to in the title.

All in all, this trio of Book Retreat mysteries was a fine introduction to this charming corner of Ellery Adam’s literary world that I will return to in the near future:

For my next set of Triple Play reading, I’ll be catching up on Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mysteries starting with book six, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House.

Our Dear Jane is staying with her naval brother Frank to not only support his wife Mary during her first pregnancy but to help save one of his good friends from the gallows.

Captain Tom Seagrave is accused of unjustly killing a French officer during a boating raid and although Frank would benefit by taking over Seagrave’s ship if convicted, he would prefer to save his friend from death and dishonor.

While Jane is only familiar with the navy from her civilian perspective, the keen eye for human folly that she’s developed over time should be a key part in saving one man and perhaps advancing the other’s career.

As Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen novels, this particular book has quite the hold on my interests indeed and it will be interesting to see any potential Captain Wentworth types appear on this horizon:

 

My Series-ous Reading looks for love and Murder in the Paperback Parlor

With such late winter chills arriving just before a new spring season, it’s very fitting that my second session of Triple Play themed Series-ous Reading tied into Valentine’s Day so nicely.

Ellery Adams’ Murder in the Paperback Parlor brings us back to Storyton Hall, the delightful book themed retreat(and secret location of a hidden library of wonders) run by Jane Steward, who is hoping that her newest literary event is less dangerous than her prior one was.

The hotel decides to have a Romance week just in time for Valentine’s Day with such fun activities as a Regency styled ballroom danceand a male cover model contest. The main draw, however, is a panel of popular romance writers with the headliner being Rosemund York, best known for her Venus Dares novels that have an independent matchmaker as her leading lady.

 Things seem to be going well for the most part until Jane is awakened one night by the news that Rosemund has been discovered dead upon the grounds. The author’s demise was due to poison and sadly, there are quite a few suspects to choose from amongst their guests.

Those potential killers include a reporter who was seen arguing with Rosemund the day before her death, a rival writer named Georgia Dupree that openly detested Rosemund‘a bestseller status and Maria Stone, a fervent fan that became angry with Rosemund’s upcoming new book .

In fact, many of the fans attending had been given copies of Rosemund’s departure from her previous work called Eros Rising, which featured a very alpha male lead that infuriated them all. The list of suspects grew vey long from that indeed!:

If that wasn’t enough on her plate, Jane was considering having a bit of romance with Edwin, her best friend Eloise’s mysterious brother who seemed to be settling down with a new restaurant in town.

Unfortunately, Jane was warned by her family and friendly book protectors (aka The Finns) that Edwin’s motives for courting her might not be honorable. Turns out Edwin is a international book thief who is known for stealing rare editions for select clients.

His key tactic is staying awhile near his bookish targets and gaining the trust of locals in order to make his heist all the more successful.

 As the new Guardian of the secret library that her family has looked after for generations, Jane is torn between her duty and her possible heart’s desire. It’s a dance that she struggles to resist but even on the ballroom floor, manages to watch her step:

The Book Retreat series is a nice blend of cozy mystery with the spice of a spy novel and a generous dose of book lore.

Jane is a fully rounded character who even with her work(secret and public) responsibilities and being the widowed mom of two rambunctious boys(Fitz and Hem, who are really nice kids), does make some time for herself and her book club buddies called The Cover Girls for a little fun. 

Also, the staff at Storyton Hall has a combo of Downton Abbey and James Bond’s band of spy equipment suppliers which is  nifty to say the least!

My stay at Storyton Hall will draw to a close soon as my next Series-ous Reading selection is Murder in the Secret Garden , which ties in the classic children’s book by Frances Hodgeson Burnett into the mystery mix. Granted, I may renew my visit on my own but for now, this third time should prove to be charming enough:

My Series-ous Reading books a vacation for Murder in the Mystery Suite

 

Welcome to another year of Series-ous Reading ,folks, where books from various series get their literary due.

Our theme for 2023 is Triple Play which means that I read three titles in a row from a certain set of well established mysteries and to start things off right, we begin with the first book in Ellery Adams’ Book Resort Mystery series, Murder in the Mystery Suite.

Our leading lady is Jane Steward, a widowed mother of two boys who runs Storyton Hall, a literary themed resort set in a small Virginia town.

Along with her charmingly eccentric Aunt Octavia and Uncle Aloysius , Jane loves  her work in setting up bookish getaways for her guests with the help of the local community who have bookish names for their businesses like Run for Cover and The Cheshire Cat Pub. It’s basically Stars Hollow for book lovers:

No matter how great her job is, Jane knows that renovations are necessary to keep the place going, so she arranges for a Murder and Mystery event to draw some big crowds in.

Everything gets off to a good start as guests dressed up as their favorite fictional detectives arrive, ready for a good time. The opening entertainment is a scavenger hunt with the big prize being a signed copy of letters from renowned author Adela Dundee.

The winner of that book, Felix Hampden, happens to be dressed up as Dundee’s famed sleuth and his prize is quickly sought after by two other participants but to no avail. By the morning, Hampden is declared a “Rip Van Wrinkle”( hotel code name for a dead person on the premises) and the book he won has disappeared.

Jane is stunned by this news and finds herself looking into the case as other deadly departures follow with that book of letters being the key cause. Not only does Jane want to protect her family and her guests, she soon learns that there is a special secret about this collection of letters that some are willing to kill for:

I’ve read Ellery Adams before, mainly her Secret, Book and Scone Society books, so it helps to know that a good time was awaiting me here.

I also read one of the later books in this series-Murder in the Cookbook Nook-and part of my reason for wanting to dive into Storyton Hall more was to get the fuller origin story of the hidden secret library tucked into the place.

Turns out that Jane’s family has been the hereditary guardians of a special collection of literary works such as unpublished plays of Shakespeare and other closely protected lore, a mantle that has now been passed on to her. 

There’s a whole secret society of trained protectors within the Storyton Hall staff known as the Finns who use the secret passages on the hotel grounds to train, spy on suspicious guests and secure the books from all unauthorized after them.

I do love this adventure element to the series and Adams blends it in with the cozy mystery themes of the story quite nicely there. All in all, just like any good book, the Book Resort mysteries are more than meets the eye indeed:

As you can imagine, my appetite for book two is throughly whetted and since February is fast approaching, I am happy to report that Murder in the Paperback Parlor does have a Valentines Day theme!

Jane is pleased to host a romance inspired outing featuring Regency romance writer Rosamund York for the holiday but unfortunately, the author is not as beloved as her books.

With the demise of York, Jane not only fears that the mood has been killed at Storyton so she enlists the aid of her book club buddies to assist in saving the day. Should be seasonal fun for sure and as any Jane Austen fan knows, the search for love can be a sinister affair in more ways than one:

Seeing If Books Could Kill before a new season of Series-ous Reading begins

Welcome back to a brand new year of Series-ous Reading as well as a Happy New Year for all of us to enjoy some more good books together.

Before we can go forth with our new theme of Triple Play, last year’s Sisterhood of Sleuthing must be completed with a look at Kate Carlisle’s If Books Could Kill , the second volume of her Bibliophile Mystery series.

Our leading lady Brooklyn Wainwright is pleased to be getting back to her work as a bookbinder by attending the annual Edinburgh Book Festival both as a speaker and participant in a restoration workshop.

She runs into plenty of old friends such as Helen, who is on the verge of divorce from her dreadful husband Martin, and a very special former friend, Kyle McVee.

Kyle was Brooklyn’s boyfriend at one time but his roving eye ended that romance for good. Nonetheless, they remained bookish pals and their reunion at this event gives him the chance to ask her for help in authenticating a rather unique book of poems.

The tome in question is a rare edition of Robbie Burns poems that tell a tale of forbidden romance between himself and an English princess. While Brooklyn isn’t a historian, she’s willing to assist Kyle but little does she know what a world of trouble that she’s stepping into:

Not longer after Brooklyn takes the book into her keeping , Kyle is found dead at a tourist attraction and the murder weapon is one of her own bookbinding tools. 

Fortunately for Brooklyn, former MI-6 agent Derek Stone who helped to clear her name before from a murder charge is on hand here to lend a hand. It’s a good thing that he and the lead detective Angus MacLeod are both colleagues in crime solving and willing to look at other suspects.

Plenty of those abound, such as a persnickety bookseller offended by the very idea of an illicit royal love affair, a woman claiming to be Kyle’s wife and a band of men who profess to be members of The Robert Burns Society determined to protect their countryman’s name.

Brooklyn also becomes the target of several attacks, including a raid of her hotel room (awakening her in the middle of the night!) and a library incident that rivals a certain scene from 1999’s The Mummy, which is quite the close call indeed:

When another body turns up, the list of suspects grows shorter yet the threat level for Brooklyn keeps going up higher. Can she find the killer and keep the book safe from those on either side who want it to vanish from public sight?

Having read later books in this series, it’s fun to catch up with Brooklyn’s past adventures and see how her relationship with Derek develops, not to mention appearances by the mysterious Gabriel(a rogue book buyer) and even the arrival of Brooklyn’s offbeat parents, especially her flighty but feisty mom who is eager to recommend all sorts of herbal cleansing to cure what ails you!

The book lore is charmingly entertaining as well as educational (the Robbie Burns secret romance being truly a work of fiction there). All in all, a true delight with an additional mystery that gave a James Bond flair to the proceedings rather well:

Now for our 2023 theme known as Triple Play, where I cover three books in a row from the same series and author.

We begin with Ellery Adams’s Book Retreat Mysteries, the first book being Murder in the Mystery Suite.

Widowed mother Jane Steward runs Storyton Hall, a resort dedicated to the love of books , and to that end she plans a Murder Mystery week long event to drum up some much needed new business.

All goes well until one of the guests winds up as an actual corpse and it’s up to Jane to solve this all too real mystery before the final page is turned for a fatal finale. So far, it’s a welcome romp into a reader’s wonderland with touches of warmhearted humor and heart that I look forward to more and more:

Shelving another year of Series-ous Reading with a Homicide in Hardcover

We’re near the end of my run of Series-ous Reading for 2022 and I have to say that it’s been a pretty good romp of page turning here.

My theme for this year, Siaterhood of Sleuthing, has taken me back and forth in time and some places in between. However, these last two titles have brought me to a spot both familiar and yet brand new all at once.

After reading Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile Mystery books out of order for awhile now, it was my pleasure to finally get to the one that started it all, Homicide in Hardcover.

Brooklyn Wainwright is a successful bookbinder in San Francisco, mostly happy in her work and life. The few not so bright moments include a rival in her personal and professional paths named Minka as well as an abrupt parting of the ways with her mentor Abraham.

One of those issues is remedied when Brooklyn attends a celebration at the Covington Library in honor of an upcoming rare book exhibit. Abraham is not only pleased to see her but more happier than he’s been in years with the world in general.

Sadly, that reunion is literally short lived as later in the evening, Brooklyn discovers Abraham in a library workroom as he takes his last breath which includes a warning to her “Remember the devil!”

That cryptic sentence seems to refers to his last book restoration commission, a rare bejeweled edition of Faust by Goethe, said to be cursed. While she has serious doubts about the book’s curse, it becomes hard to deny that this particular volume is the source of very direct malevolence towards those who keep it in their possession:

As Brooklyn takes over the restoration of Faust, she finds herself the target of several strange attacks, not to mention the unwelcome scrutiny of Derek Stone, a private security agent with ties to MI-6. 

Determined to get justice for Abraham(as well as take her own name off the list of suspects) she sets forth to find the real killer , only to encounter a secret about her mentors past that could alter the present in more ways than one.

Having already enjoyed this series with it’s literary lore and lively characters (one of the strengths of Carlisle’s writing is how she catches you up quickly with the overall backstory of all assembled), my main purpose was to have that “see where it all began “ vibe and in that, this book was a warm welcome indeed.

Carlisle not only creates an engaging heroine in Brooklyn, armed with book knowledge and candy treats to sustain her during long bouts of restoration, but makes both her friends and enemies equally as compelling themselves.

Of course, seeing Brooklyn and future love interest Derek tackle their first mystery together was the ultimate sweet treat in this bookish box of chocolates. Their repartee reminds of detective TV shows such as Bones, Castle or that old school classic Remington Steele with partners in crime solving and romance working to save the day or their next date-which ever comes first!:

That leads to my current and last for this year’s Series-ous Reading which is the second book in this series, If Books Could Kill.

In this entry, Brooklyn has just arrived at the Edinburgh Book Festival where she runs into several old friends (and her arch nemesis Minka to boot), plus Kyle, a former boyfriend and book dealer.

He asks her to help him verify a collection of poems by Robbie Burns, with this particular edition being seen as seditious due to Burns alluding to a romantic dalliance with a member of the Royal family. Finding it hard to believe that anyone would be hunted down over a three hundred year old rumor, Brooklyn nonetheless decides to assist him in this matter for old times sake.

That decision is regretted swiftly as Kyle is found dead at a tourist attraction with the murder weapon being one of Brooklyn’s bookbinding tools. Who would both want to kill Kyle and frame her as well in such a short amount of time? Lucky, Derek is on the scene but can Brooklyn fully trust him after seeing him at the airport with what appears to be his wife and child?

So far, this story is engrossing but I’ll have a fuller review in the new year, along with the beginning of a fresh round of Series-ous Reading. The theme for 2013 is Triple Play, where I will be reading three mysteries by the same author in a row.

For example, in January,February and March, I will be reading and reviewing three of Ellery Adams’ Book Retreat series: Murder in the Mystery Suite, Murder in the Paperback Parlor and Murder in the Reading Room. 

Just like Carlisle’s books, I’ve already read one of the latest titles in this series and wish to go back for more.

Other authors on this lineup include Stephanie Barron(Jane Austen Mysteries), Rhys Bowen (Her Royal Spyness) and Julie Hzny(White House Chef Mystery). Not only a fun way to catch up on my many TBR piles but to get a better sense of continuity within each series.

It’s also the best form of entertainment binging and as they say, three is the magic number there. Hope you all will join me next year for these extended visits with these modern day queens of mystery:

My Series-ous Reading has me meeting Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante

 

As this year is quickly coming to a close, my Series-ous Reading feels a bit rushed there.

However, some things are worth taking your time with and a Maggie Hope mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal certainly falls into that category.

Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante brings our leading lady Maggie back to America as part of Winston Churchill’s official entourage upon the US entering WWII.

 While seeing her aunt(who raised her after the alleged death of her parents) again as well as possibly patch things up romantically with former beau John Sterling are key priorities for Maggie, those focuses are shifted as the First Lady is in need of someone with spy skills to solve a potential murder.

When Mrs. Roosevelt’s current secretary, Blanche Balfour, goes missing at work , Maggie joins the First Lady in checking in on the young woman personally. To their mutual shock, Blanche is found dead in what is meant to be seen as a suicide but evidence casually left behind makes it clear that this was not the case.

While discreetly looking into the matter, Maggie learns that Blanche’s demise is part of an overall scheme to discredit Mrs. Roosevelt, who is trying to get her husband to stop the unjust execution of a young man named Wendell Cotton.

Wendell’s trial and soon to be carried out death sentence was railroaded through the system as a political gain for the governor of Virginia, which makes FDR somewhat reluctant to get involved due to needing support form the southern states to fund the new war effort.

Maggie is willing to help on more than one front here, particularly since this sinister campaign against Mrs. Roosevelt could affect both England and the US in working together to fight the Axis powers.

 Not to mention that Eleanor herself is such an inspiration to the many causes for the betterment of others that Maggie consider it her duty to assist her as best she can:

I’ve compared these books to watching a great TV series like Agent Carter(which should’ve lasted longer than two seasons!) and that standard still holds true in this fifth entry.

MacNeal’s cast of characters, from historical figures like the Roosevelts and Walt Disney (who plays a pivotal part in Maggie’s renewed relationship with John) to her fictional folk, are vividly created enough that their own story lines are just as engaging as the main mystery of the book.

We also get welcome moments of amusement as Maggie gives one of her British friends a copy of Little Women for Christmas and his first time reading reactions are fun to say the least-reminds me of that book swap between Rachel and Joey on Friends that time!

MacNeal also keeps continuing plot points going on that don’t directly affect the central action yet are definitely important to keep an eye.

 The escape of a persistent nemesis occurs towards the end of the book(semi spoiler alert) and while it may be awhile before I get back to this series, I am most intrigued to see what trouble this particular shady lady causes for Maggie and company in the books to come:

Meanwhile, my next to last selection for Series-ous Reading is Homicide in Hardcover , the first title in Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile Mystery books that I am finally reading for the first time!

After reading this series out of order for quite awhile now, it’s great to now get to where it all started for Brooklyn Wainwright, a bookbinder who literally faints at the sight of blood, on her sleuthing side hustle so to speak.

With Brooklyn reuniting with her mentor Abraham at a library event celebrating the restoration of a rare edition of Faust, finding him dead before the book is fully repaired is startling in more ways than one.

While she does want to find the killer and make sure that Faust is ready for display, Brooklyn is up against challenges from friends as well as foes. Plus, this particular edition is supposedly cursed to boot, which is fitting for anything to do with Faust, if you ask me:

My Series-ous Reading examines Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy

 For September’ s Series-ous Reading selection, the Sister in Sleuthing that I revisited was Jane Austen, via Stephanie Barron’s delightful mystery series, with Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy.

The late gentleman of the title was Lord Harold Trowbridge, aka The Gentleman Rogue, who often included Jane is some of his secret missions for king and country. His demise took place in an earlier entry(which I haven’t read yet but have future plans to do so here).

Upon setting up house keeping with her mother at Chawton Cottage, Jane is greeted by a pair of strange surprises. The first is a lawyer from Sir Harold’s estate bearing a large chest that contains a bequeath from his Lordship’s will.

The contents, much to her mother’s dismay, are not monetary-rather, the private letters and other writings of Sir Harold that are meant to be literary inspiration for her.

While freshly adjusting to this unexpected abundance of insight into the one man she truly cared for, Jane discovers the remains of a local workman named Shafto French in the cellar.

How Mr. French’s body(which shows disturbing signs of having been down there before Jane and her mother arrived) came to be there is mystery enough without most of the neighborhood appearing to hold a grudge against the newly arrived Austens, due in part to her brother Edward’s lackluster attention to his tenants.

However, Shafto’s death may be part of a more sinister plot as the chest of Sir Harold’s papers is stolen from the house. As it turns out, the parentage of a potential heir to the nearby estate of Stonings named Julian Thrace, may be confirmed within those papers.

The other claimant is Lady Imogene, whose gambling debts would be secured by such an inheritance. Jane suspects that her ladyship may have hired some local workers (such as the man caught climbing out of a Chawton Cottage window!) to learn the truth for herself.

As the rivalry between the two heirs grows deadly, Jane  persists in investigating before more lives are lost as well as  holding onto the hope of retrieving the only solid remembrance of the only man she may ever have loved:

Despite reading a good portion of this series out of order, this story resonates strongly with some of the sorrowful notes that one sees in Austen’s later works for me. Barron knows the world of Austen so well that her blend of real life and fictional characters feels engagingly authentic.

Speaking of engaging, Jane’s mother is quite the comic delight with her complaints about her daughter not at least getting some jewelry from Sir Harold’s will but starts digging up her yard upon hearing a local legend about a buried ruby necklace!

She is so Mrs. Bennet like here and a welcome note of levity in the midst of this detective drama:

Heading into October, my next Series-ous Reading adventure has me paying another call on Maggie Hope in Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante.

As America officially enters WWII, Maggie accompanies Winston Churchill on a trip to Washington DC to start their alliance off on a good foot.

While there, Maggie makes the acquaintance of the indomitable First Lady and the two of them team up to solve a mystery and right a few wrongs along the way. Sounds like an inspiring read for these troubling times indeed!:

My Series-ous Reading Summer

I know that this summer wrap up of my Series-ous Reading feature is a tad late but rather necessary in order to clear my series slate for fall reading.

So, let’s begin with my July selection, Jane and the madness of Lord Byron, which is the tenth entry in Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mysteries series. Here, Jane accompanies her recently widowed brother Henry to Brighton as a mutual means of relief from grieving the loss of his wife/Jane’s good friend Eliza .

During their journey , they wind up rescuing a young woman named Catherine Twinning who was being forcibly taken to Gretna Green by none other than the infamous Lord  Byron, who was determinedly attached to her.

The rescue of Catherine back to her father’s house was not an improvement as he immediately blamed his daughter for what had occurred and became more determined to marry Catherine off to a much older clergyman. As much as Jane wishes to interfere, her role in this sad situation is severely limited.

By trying to avoid Catherine at a social gathering, however, Jane later feels that she should’ve gotten more involved as the poor girl is found dead in Lord Byron’s bed the next morning. Her cause of demise was drowning yet she was discovered sewn into a shroud made from the sail of  Byron’s private boat!

This bizarre incident,of course, makes Byron the prime suspect but Jane has doubts about his guilt (even before she meets him) and with the help of Henry, uncovers a few secrets and secret passageways to find the real killer before the wrong man is punished for this crime.

What I do like about this series is how plausible Barron makes Jane’s detective skills by not turning her into some super powered figure of adventure. Instead, the reader gets a very relatable leading lady who not only fits her keen intellect into the norms of her time but manages to work her way around when need be in almost a modern fashion.

Although we do get some nice  “what if” entertainment out of Jane meeting up with Byron( they didn’t in real life) and the equally bizarre Lady Caroline Lamb, who has a bit of a Helena Bonham Carter vibe to me.

All in all, this was a wonderful summer vacation read and I’m glad that I skipped ahead in this series to engage with both Austen and Byron on the fictional beach:

For August, it was time to visit with Maggie Hope in The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal.

Trying to physically and emotionally recover from her mission into WWII Germany, Maggie is a trainer of potential spies on a remote Scottish island. When forced by her superiors to take a little time off, Maggie attends a ballet in Edinburgh where her good friend Sarah is performing. At the end of the show, the lead ballerina collapses during the encores and dies before the night is over.

The cause of death is deemed to be poisoning and Sarah is seen as one of the suspects, vying for that spot on stage. However, Maggie notices the strange spots on both the victim and the other two suspects that are oddly similar to a dead sheep that she reported to the local vet back at the spy camp.

With Sarah’s life on the line, Maggie gets herself back into the game to find the source of the infection before it’s too late. As she’s regaining her momentum, a major shift on the international battlefield is about to add a new ally in the fight against Nazi Germany, an ally that will require Maggie to use her special talents to help secure their aid.

MacNeal is very good at balancing so many plot points and character arcs throughout her series while keeping her central lead firmly on the mark.

 As Maggie finds her way out of despair and endeavors to be of use in such troubling times, she’s quite a good example to follow there. Granted, she’s not written as a role model for a campaign poster but her humanity in the face of personal woes and worldwide chaos is engagingly admirable nonetheless:

That takes us to September and sends me back to Jane Austen country with Jane and His Lordshp’s Legacy by Stephanie Barron.

The Lordship in this case is the late Lord Harold Trowbridge, who leaves Jane a rather personal inheritance just as she arrives at her new home in Chawton with her disagreeable mother in tow.

On top of that unexpected surprise, another shocker is found in the cellar as the body of a local workman is discovered. Dealing with such rapid changes as well as new neighbors eager for gossip is a lot to deal with but Jane is definitely more than up to the challenge.

I know my going back and forth in time with this series is quite wonky but it does help that I know enough about Austen’s life and times to keep my head steady (don’t try this at home, new readers!) at the helm , so to speak.

 Soon enough, I will be fully caught with these books but that’s a tale for a future time indeed: