"Death Below Stairs" is the first book in the Kat Holloway Mystery series! Kat, a young cook, takes a position at Mayfair mansion. While she’s there, her assistant gets murdered, and she tries her hardest to find the murderer. This book sta...
4 StarsHighly sought after cook Kat Holloway takes a position at a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of the hunky Lord Rankin. She's fine with all the odd residents of the manse as long as they keep out of her ki...
4 Stars“City of Lies” tosses the reader into jail with the main character and the suffrage movement. I have to say that this worked very well. I decided to read this because of the cover and I died hard loved it. I couldn't put it down. This novel...
5 Stars“Naapiikoan Winter” is about the way the different people lived in the Piikani tribes. I found it very interesting to learn about the way they lived and the things they believed as well as the different tribes. I found the author must have...
5 Stars“A Christmas Message” by Anne Perry is a beautiful seasonal mini-novel that features Vespasia and Victor Narraway, whose journey to Jerusalem, at a time considered pivotal for Christian religions, is imbued with far more significance than a...
4 StarsD. M. Quincy has written a series debut novel. “Murder in Mayfair” is an Atlas Catesby Mystery and the first one in the series. The story takes place in 1814 in England, where Atlas and friend have stopped at an inn for some sustenance. Aft...
4 Stars"The Last Days of Magic", by Mark Tompkins, is a very well written book. The author intermingles history, legends, and magic quite well. I found the characters fascinating and enjoyed following each one of them throughout the book. Anyone w...
4½ StarsAll that's left is a treasure map, or part of one. At least it's supposed to be a treasure map. Sarabande Swinford was taken in by a con man. She has lost her fortune and all she has left if the map. So she decided to find out about this so...
3 StarsFeast of Sorrow, by Crystal King, is one of the most fabulous books I have read in a while. Apicus seems to be what we would now call a Foodie. He enjoys eating to the extreme. I love that he pays such a huge amount to buy Thrasius, a slave...
5 StarsCan I scream? YES, YES AND YES this is the story I have been waiting for. Man I really don’t want the Stranje House series to end! I really love how these books have different points of view. You don’t miss anything as the series goes along...
5 Stars“Brimstone” overall was a pretty good book, but it did lack the action and fast paced flow that I've come to love. I felt like for most of the book I just wanted to skip to the end and find out what happened. It was compelled to know how th...
3½ Stars"The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World", by Brian Doyle, is such an imaginative book. Robert Louis Stevenson would be proud. This book is very similar to his writing style. I love the environment. Castles, pirates,...
4 Stars“An Extraordinary Union” by Alyssa Cole was a very intriguing book about people of color working with the Union as spies in the South. Ellie Burns, a former slave, has the ability to remember with astonishing accuracy things, conversations,...
4 StarsThe midwife is written by Katja Kettu and translated by David Hackston. Katja Kettu has written several books and even won a few awards, but "The Midwife" is her first book written in English. Her translator, David Hackston is a freelance t...
4 StarsThis story goes back and forth between World War II and the present day. Simone Devereux watched her father and brother gunned down by the Gestapo. She spent four months hiding from the Germans until the end of the war. Annaliese Kurtz’s fa...
4 StarsI have enjoyed every book that I have read of Jody Hudlund. I loved “For Love and Honor” just as much! This medieval fantasy series is one of my absolute favorites! The author has a way of grabbing you and keeping you reading until the very...
5 StarsRhys Bowen is one of my favorite authors. She wrote the Royal Spyness Myusteries, the Constable Evans Mysteries, and the Molly Murphy Mysteries. I have read most of these and you will fine reviews on my blog. I have just read “In Farleigh F...
5 Stars"Rules for the Rogue," is an engaging romance that is filled with charm, wit and yet I did find the plot to be among those that I would classify as not among the more intense historical-ROMANCE titles. I felt like the attraction between the...
3½ Stars“Death Among Rubies” by R. J. Koreto is set in Edwardian England and spotlights Frances Ffolkes, the sister of a Marquis. She is very active in civic organizations and a suffragette, which dismays her brother tremendously. She is very indep...
4½ StarsI read an advanced review copy of “In the Shadow of Lakecrest” by Elizabeth Blackwell. The novel begins in 1928 as two passengers are returning amongst many to the United States from Europe by ship. One is a man from a purported wealthy fam...
3 StarsI know “A Perilous Undertaking” says that it can be read as a standalone. But if you don’t read book one you really miss out on the events of book one. This second book takes us deeper into Veronica Speedwell’s family life as well as the li...
4½ StarsMyra was only looking for a room to rent while she was in college. She wasn’t looking for a friend or new family member. When she answered Helen Stein’s ad for a room for rent, she got more than she expected. During the interview, she notic...
4 Stars“Sun Born” by W. Michael & Kathleen O’Neal Gear is the second book in the Morning Star series featuring the Cahokia Mounds people. This sequel features Lady Night Shadow Star (sister to the human body of Morning Star), facing what might be...
3 Stars“The Paris Librarian” is a Hugh Marston crime fiction book by Mark Pryor. I had not read his books before and so found this novel to be appealing. I enjoy crime fiction and found that this setting in Paris with all the accompanying Parisian...
3½ StarsWhat a beautiful story! “Yakimali's Gift” is so well written. It’s about the Marquina family. They make their journey in 1775 from Mexico to California. They deal with the Spaniards and Indians. During the trip there is hardships. Readers w...
5 Stars“Woman in the Shadows” by Jane Thynne is the third book in the Clara Vine Series that I have read. Jane Thynne has become one of my very favorite authors. Not only is her subject matter one that I love to read about, but her style of writin...
5 StarsSome are born into families, some choose their families. Families are to be loved whether you are born with them or choose them. That is the basis of family, LOVE. Or should I say, it should be that way. Dr. Lucy is trying hard to let her p...
5 StarsChris Stewart has written a very good novel, “Winter Sky”. I always gravitate toward books set during World War II, especially those written about the French Resistance, the Malice, and what the people had to endure and how their homelands...
4 StarsI love historical mysteries. With such a colorful cover, I couldn’t help but feel intrigued. When the Duke of Olympia dies his longtime secretary Miss Emmeline Rose Truelove is commissioned to seek out his heir, Maximillian Haywood. Max has...
3 StarsI never thought I would be one to love historical fiction. But it seems that I'm addicted to some of these! This one flows so well. We start out with Victoria being little then being a teen then taking the first steps to becoming queen. Thi...
5 StarsThe Daisy Dalrymple mystery series by Carola Dunn has been a favorite of mine ever since I was introduced to it because of the re-release of Death at Wentwater Court. So when offered the chance to read the newest release, Superfluous Women,...
5 StarsCome Hell or Highball by Maia Chance is an intriguing first entry in what will hopefully be a long series. Society matron Lola Woodby has just buried her unfaithful husband, and is looking forward to a life after a distinctly loveless marri...
4 Stars“Girl on a Plane” starts out like any other. A girl is getting ready to go back to school. She is flying out the next morning. She is part of a family that moves around a lot due to her dad being in the military. The author did an amazing j...
5 StarsR. J. Koreto has been a financial journalist and some of his work has appeared in mystery magazines. “Death on the Sapphire” is his first novel and highlights Frances Ffolkes, the sister of a Marquis. She is very active in civic organizatio...
4 Stars“The Lost Deposition of Glynnis Smith McLean” by Scott Stevens is an historical novel based on fact. Glynnis was a survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster. She and her new husband were sailing from Ireland to America to start their new life. S...
4½ StarsAs far as considerable historical-fiction novels go I think that "Hero in the Highlands" certainly deserves points for the author's creativity behind the novel. The book alone was undisputedly a different sort of romance. In my opinion, I n...
4 StarsI had very high hopes for the novel "Girl in the Afternoon”, when I selected the novel for review. Sadly, I was nothing except disappointed by this novel and I could barely push through to the story to reach the ending. The reasons for my d...
2½ StarsSometimes it takes a very special person to change our lives forever. For Geoffrey Thraxton, it is that one special person who he first perceives to be an angel. That is majorly the story in the novel "The Angel of Highgate" by Vaughn Entwi...
5 StarsWith her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself o...
4½ StarsI have been a fan of the Jackaby series since it started and I am very sad to see that this third story just didn't work out for me. The wonderful Mr. Jackaby fell so flat for me that he really was only good for seeing the other world in th...
3 StarsI really love historical reads and this mystery was so good! It is very well written and I loved the characters. The story was pretty easy to follow, which made it even better. The author did an amazing job delving into the occult world and...
4 StarsNancy Herriman has done it again with the latest in her historical mystery series. Set in San Francisco in 1867 nurse Celia Davies once again finds herself accidentally on the trail of a killer, along with will-she-won’t-she possible romant...
4½ StarsAs I was introduced to the new series, "The Uprising," I was intrigued by the depth of the novel's actual synopsis. Sadly my interest did not hold for long. I do not like to think of any novel as a bad read and yet this material was closely...
2½ StarsIf you like reading historical mystery novels, you will enjoy “The Devil’s Cold Dish’ by Eleanor Kuhns. This novel is set in Maine in 1796 on the farm of weaver Will Rees. Rees is an itinerant weaver moving from town to town weaving cloth f...
4 Stars“The Pursuit of Pearls” by Jane Thynne is book four in the Clara Vine series. Not only is the novel’s historical World War II setting my favorite setting but it is expertly written. This is a spy novel at its best. The main character is act...
5 StarsThere is a quote that says some books “just swallow you up, heart and soul.” "The Violinist of Venice" by Alyssa Palombo is one of those books. For me, anyway. I loved this book! And I hated every moment I was forced to put it down. I read...
4½ Stars“At the Edge of Summer” by Jessica Brockmole is a novel set in 1911 France. It is the story of a fifteen year old girl, Clare Ross, a Scottish lass, who has been left alone since her mother left and her father died. A friend of her mother’s...
3½ Stars“A Sacrificial Matter” is a story based in the early twentieth century. It involves a murder that had all the signs of a sacrifice. At least that is what it seems like on the surface. Further investigation by the Darcy's (a husband and wife...
3 StarsThe setting for this trilogy is the San Andres Mountains. Matthew Kerney returns from WWII to try to regain his health from a war injury. But that won't be his biggest struggle. The army wants his land. He has lost control over much of his...
4 StarsThis book has detailed descriptions of Old West scenery. You, the reader, get a look into the history of this fiction novel. The description of the scenery is so real you can feel the heat, you can see the buildings, you can feel the charac...
4 Stars