Murder on the S.S. Cleopatra

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Murder on the S.S. Cleopatra by Sara Rosett

This historical mystery is the sequel to Murder Among the Pyramids, with a third book planned. In 1924, Blix Windway, an adventurous lady traveler, embarks on the Blue Lotus Line steamer S.S. Cleopatra for a cruise down the Nile, as does her new friend Hildy Honeycutt. Blix takes photos and gives lectures about her travels, occasionally funding her travel by working as a paid companion.

Blix has a small but charming cabin, while Hildy has a much larger one. Blix is startled to meet Rafe Briarcliff on board, the handsome but annoying man who shared some of her recent adventures in Cairo and at the pyramids. Rafe is travelling undercover, assessing the ship and crew for the Blue Lotus Line. Hildy gets a couple of anonymous threatening notes and reluctantly shares a big secret with Blix. They get to know the other travelers before a suspicious death, or possibly two, occurs.

The captain asks Mr. Briarcliff and Blix to interview all of the travelers in hopes that they can solve the mystery before the ship arrives at Luxor. The ship is described in just the right amount of detail, as are the travelers, crew, and their activities. Rosett really did her research on 1920s Egyptian tourism, but shares just enough of what she learned to enhance the mystery, not overwhelm it. Gossipy tidbits from a fictional newspaper begin each chapter. I read the deluxe trade paperback, which includes extras such as photographs of the main characters, the deck plan of the ship, and color illustrations of a blue lotus. I enjoyed this book just as much as Murder Among the Pyramids, and look forward to reading about Blix’s adventures in Luxor.

Brenda

The Harvey Girls

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The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay

I enjoyed this absorbing historical novel set in 1926. Two young women, each with a big secret, train together in Topeka, Kansas, to become Harvey Girls. Billie, the oldest girl in a large hardworking family, is still 15, not 18 as required. She is homesick and a little clumsy, but very kind and charming to the customers at the Harvey House restaurant at the Topeka train station.

Charlotte, six years older, attended Wellesley College before dropping out to marry Simeon. Simeon is a brute, and hits Charlotte. She runs away to be a Harvey Girl, always worried he’ll find her. After training, Billie and Charlotte travel to the Grand Canyon, and are assigned to work as waitresses at the fancy El Tovar Hotel.

Charlotte doesn’t like to get close to the rim of the Grand Canyon while Billie befriends a park ranger and is eager to hike down into the canyon. Both of their secrets eventually cause problems, especially when they both meet men they really like. Charlotte becomes a part-time tour guide and makes a Hopi friend. Billie sends money home and worries about her family. The author has experience working as a waitress, which adds authenticity to Billie’s and Charlotte’s experience as Harvey Girls. A bit dramatic in spots, this is a very appealing read, with an excellent sense of time and place. An epilog fills the reader in on what happened after they left the Grand Canyon. I might need to watch Judy Garland sing “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” again in the 1946 movie “The Harvey Girls”.

Brenda

Brigands & Breadknives

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Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

Fans of Legends & Lattes, your wait for a sequel is almost over. Brigands will be published November 11. I was lucky enough to read a digital review copy. The title confused me for quite a while; I thought there’d be more of a bakery setting with Breadknives as part of the title. I am happy that the author didn’t want to write another book too similar to Legends or the prequel Bookshops & Bonedust. Not really a cozy fantasy, this is still a very satisfying read.

Fern, a ratkin, instead of running a bookshop, finds herself on an adventure with Astryx One-Ear, the famous elf oathmaiden, along with Nigel, an Elder Blade, Bucket the horse, and Zyll, a gnome who is definitely serious trouble. Fern isn’t brave, doesn’t have a plan or a clue, and swears a lot, including in gnomish. She also feels guilty for going on an adventure without telling her friends first. Enjoy!

Brenda

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library

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Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman

Not the historical mystery I was expecting, but a very cleverly written contemporary mystery set in New York City. Tory Van Dyne, a book conservator, lives and works in a large house that belonged to her grandmother and overlooks Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Tory’s flat occupies the top two floors, and she works in the basement. The other two floors house the fictional Mystery Guild Library, which includes the Christie Room. This room duplicates the personal library of Agatha Christie, the queen of mysteries.

Tory is stunned to encounter a woman in the Christie Room who introduces herself as Mrs. Max Mallowan, or Agatha Christie. She claims to be visiting from Eternity and has returned to help Tory solve a mystery. When told there isn’t a mystery, the woman assures her that a crime will be committed soon. In a short time, the Christie Room becomes a weekly gathering place for amateur sleuths and Detective Sebastian Mendez-Cruz, along with a small dog. Tory introduces her cousin Nic, librarian Adrian, and young Mairead to Mrs. Mallowan. After two suspicious deaths, the group has much to discuss, usually over cocktails, with a Shirley Temple for Mairead. Mrs. Mallowan, when not quoting fictional detectives, says that she’s no longer a teetotaler.

Tory mostly stays home, traveling by bus to Sunday dinners with her family or to a favorite bookstore. But now she expands her horizons, attending an occasional event and getting closer to her friends in the Christie Room. Very smart, Tory gradually learns to accept advice and finds that she can be brave when needed. This book is the first in a planned series. If you can accept the presence of Mrs. Christie, readers are in for a witty and memorable mystery.

Brenda

Royal Gambit

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Royal Gambit by Daniel O’Malley

I found it very hard to put down this supernatural thriller. Set in and around London, it features Alix, Lady Mondegreen, a Pawn in the Checquy Group. When Alix was six, she was found to have a unique supernatural power, and began instruction and training with the Checquy, a secret organization that investigates supernatural crimes and disturbances. Unusually, Alix still got to attend a private school with normal children, and became friends with Princess Louise. The British Royal Family in this novel are not the same as in our London.

Alix is stunned when she is named one of four ladies-in-waiting to Princess Louise. This unpaid position, while part-time, is usually permanent, and will make her work with the Checquy more difficult. I enjoyed the unusual combination here of descriptions of royal life, detecting crime, and the incredible stories made up to explain supernatural events, along with some humor, as well as several scenes with an adorable Australian quokka. There is some violence as well. While occasionally getting to wear glamorous gowns and, twice, a tiara, Alix frequently gets summoned from one of her jobs to the other just as she’s about to eat. Often, her very curly hair and clothes are a mess. There are some perks to the lady-in-waiting position, including a gorgeous pair of boots that attracts attention on social media.

If you like an occasionally humorous thriller with supernatural elements, or if you read or saw The Rook, the first Checquy novel, I think you’ll enjoy Royal Gambit.

Brenda

Six Weeks by the Sea

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Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne

In 1801, Jane Austen, her parents, and sister Cassandra moved from the vicarage at Steventon to the city of Bath. Jane was upset at the news, and later at the loss of her piano. At 25, Jane is not yet a published author. She agrees to the move only after her parents promise a seaside holiday every summer.

This novel tells the story of that first summer by the sea, at Sidmouth. Author Paula Byrne, a biographer, wondered if Jane had ever been in love, as she wrote of it so wittily. In Sidmouth, Byrne introduces two suitors and a young biracial girl to the Austen family. Jane uses her connections to help find a foster home for the little girl, and has hopes of a possible romance between her favorite brother, Captain Frank Austen, and Martha Lloyd, the best friend of Jane and sister Cassie.

The holiday is full of seaside walks, dips in the sea, assemblies, a play, and plenty of tea and cocoa. Jane writes whenever she has time, but doesn’t share her work with anyone outside the family except Martha. The reader knows that Jane Austen never marries, so will not expect a traditional happy ever after. Jane Austen is also featured in a mystery series by Stephanie Barron, is which Jane is an amateur sleuth, and has another potential suitor, but it’s set a few years after this novel. The first book in that series is Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. This was quite an enjoyable read, and is suggested for Anglophiles as well as Janeites.

Brenda

For Duck’s Sake

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For Duck’s Sake by Donna Andrews

Twice a year, I delight in a new cozy mystery from Andrews, featuring blacksmith Meg Langslow, her large extended family, and plenty of humor. A huge dog and puppy adoption event, complete with a parade, has taken over Caerphilly, Virginia. Many of the animals are being cared for on Meg and Michael’s farm, and Meg walks to her brother’s new home for some peace and quiet. A contractor excavating a duck pond for Rob and his wife finds some bones, old but not ancient. Meg helps Chief Burke search for stories of younger men who left Caerphilly a few decades ago. She does some research at the library, searching the local paper online and on microfilm, and also talks to some of Caerphilly’s oldest residents. Two older ladies steal several of the scenes, along with the adoptable animals. To add to the chaos, someone starts leaving ducks on Rob’s porch. Five Golden Wings will be published in October. These very cozy mysteries make for great escapist reading and rereading, and the audiobooks are excellent.

Brenda

The Enchanted Greenhouse

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The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

A fantasy novel as cozy as a warm hug, this is connected to The Spellshop. Terlu awakens on a cold, snowy island, alone. She is stunned, because her last memories are in the Great Library of Allysium, where she’s been a wooden statue. Before that, Terlu was a lonely Fourth Librarian who cast a spell from a library book on a spider plant, and later ended up a statue.

An unlocked door on Belde Island reveals an amazing greenhouse, leading to more and different greenhouses. One has singing plants; another has a sunflower maze protected and pollinated by tiny dragons. There is a greenhouse dedicated to garlic, others to roses, even one with a sea turtle! These are enchanted, and are cared for by Yarrow, the single remaining gardener, who grew up on Belde. Yarrow is mostly silent, very busy, grumpy, and an excellent cook and baker. A winged cat and a talking rose plant are the only other island residents. Yarrow was hoping for someone to help the greenhouses that fail, going cold and dark with broken glass, and is very disappointed to get a talkative librarian instead of a sorcerer.

The greenhouses are simply amazing, and Terlu, Yarrow, and Lotti (the sentient rose plant) are very good company. More people arrive on the island, with startling news from Allysium, and Yarrow and Terlu look for ways to repair the broken greenhouses. This story would make lovely reading in a warm, bright room on a cold, wintry night. Fans of The Spellshop will be pleased, and look forward to more cozy fantasy from Durst.

Brenda

Dear Miss Lake

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Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce

Another Emmy and Bunty book! This is the fourth novel set in wartime London, where journalist Emmy Lake is trying her hardest to help the readers of Woman’s Friend magazine cope until peace arrives. Starting in July 1944, the war in Europe is being won by the Allies, but times are still tough for the soldiers, nurses, and everyone on the homefront.

Emmy and her brother-in-law move the staff of the magazine, along with their spouses and three children to a country estate owned by Bunty’s grandmother. Emmy gets her dream work assignment, as an official war correspondent, and travels to Belgium. Bunty’s sweetheart proposes, a wedding is planned, but Emmy’s husband has to leave England on a secret assignment. Emmy connects with other women who are waiting and waiting for their husbands, sweethearts, or sons to come home. Will the war ever end? And when one of the magazine’s younger staff is overwhelmed by events and leaves without giving a forwarding address, there is plenty to worry about.

This doesn’t sound like a very cheerful read. And yet, this is heartwarming, sad, joyous, and funny in turns. The characters are the stars of this series, from best friends Emmy and Bunty, to their partners, coworkers, and the children in their lives. If you’re up to a few tears, this is an absolutely lovely and charming read for fans of historical fiction set in England. The first book is Dear Mrs. Bird, and the others are Yours Cheerfully and Mrs. Porter Calling.

I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Brenda

Outlandish

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Outlandish: Walking Europe’s Unlikely Landscapes by Nick Hunt

I enjoyed reading this combination of hiking memoir, geography, nature, history, culture and more. In 2019 Nick, a British travel writer, hikes through arctic tundra to visit two tiny glaciers, in Scotland. Wintry weather makes the hikes quite challenging. But maybe he’ll see the Gray Man, or reindeer.

Next, he travels to Poland and Belarus to walk through parts of the Białowieża rainforest, which is threatened by logging and road building like so many forests, as well as disease. Bison and wolves might be glimpsed here. The border area is quite militarized, yet Nick feels the urge to stray from the paths. Sometimes he camps in a tent during his adventures, other times in motels or guest houses.

In Spain, Nick travels thru the Tabernas desert, made of rock, not sand, during the 2nd hottest summer on record. The desert is near the Mar de Plástico, the Plastic Sea, which is made of polytunnels where more than half of the fruit and vegetables sold in Europe are grown. Many of the workers are migrants from Northern and Saharan Africa who endure sauna-like conditions. In the Spanish desert, many western movies were filmed, and there is still entertainment styled after the wild west. Nick finds the light dazzling, and while having stored several days of water at his camp in a slot canyon, has to remind himself to return each day before running too low on water. Ibex are frequently spotted on the heights of the canyon walls.

The final adventure is on Hungary’s grassland Steppe, almost completely flat, except for ancient burial mounds. He sees native horses, wallowing water buffalo, and miles and miles of grassland. A festival of Europeans and Asians of the grasslands celebrates horses, unusual alcoholic drinks, and even remembrances of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan.

Vivid writing, great armchair travel writing, and thoughtful explorations of places that are remnants of the past, and how changing climates affect them. A memorable read.

Brenda