Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Case of the Christie Wedding Affair by Kelly Oliver (A Detection Club Mystery Book Four)

 



For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Case of the Christie Wedding Affair, by Kelly Oliver. I'm still finishing her other series, Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane Mysteries, but want to start on these eventually. 

This series imagines the life of Agatha Christie as a sleuth herself and is all in good fun. In this book, Christie goes to the Isle of Skye in Scotland for a hunting vacation and gets mixed up in a murder. 




Historical Mysteries, Cozy Mysteries

June 24, 2026

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

Scotland, 1930: Agatha Christie is getting married. She invites fellow members of the Detection Club to the windswept Isle of Skye for a quiet break while the banns are read. But tranquility proves elusive when the formidable Lord Blackwood, leader of a hunting party sharing their lodge, vanishes from the moors.

Sharp-eyed assistant to the Detection Club secretary, Eliza Baker, suspects foul play as the strange occurrences pile up: a mysterious grave in the churchyard, a missing rifle, and late-night excursions across the rugged island. There may be no body—yet—but someone at Dunmara Lodge is hiding a deadly secret.

As a storm cuts them off from the mainland, Eliza and her friend Theo must navigate lies, half-truths, and a treacherous landscape... but can they uncover the killer in the stalking grounds… or will the moors keep their secrets forever?






Sunday, June 7, 2026

Stacking the Shelves #92

 


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of.
Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Happy reading y'all!



The Royal Hammer by David Field (Book One of The Wars of the Roses Saga)

Kindle purchase: 99 cents with points

I pre ordered this book a while ago and had forgotten so I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up in my Kindle! This is the first in Field's new series, The Wars of the Roses, and begins where his last series left off....the Battle of Evesham and the fall of Simon de Montfort. I am excited to see how he handles the "three Edwards" and all the drama that goes with them. Book Two is already available for pre-order and is due out in September. It is currently on sale for only 99 cents. 

I love that he is starting in 1265, in chronological order, so that we get a full picture of how things unfold as opposed to starting later on as most books do with this topic. 





Murder at the Pyramids by Jim Eldridge (Museum Mysteries Book 12)

Kindle purchase: Free with points

Put the word pyramids in any mystery novel and I'll read it! This is book 12 so I'd be jumping into a series in the middle but I just might. It looks unique in that each book takes place, well, in a museum setting. And this one happens to really hook me with its location of Cairo and the Great Pyramids. 

Set in 1901 I love that it is historical as well. Abigail and Daniel Wilson, the "Museum Detectives" get involved in the murder investigation of a wealthy American financing an excavation of the pyramids. I'm hoping it's similar to the Peters books from the same setting.




Hastings by Griff Hosker (Conquest Series Book One)

Kindle purchase: 99 cents with points

This author is a former English teacher who has written over 200 books stretching from the early ancient period to modern times. His website, griffhosker.com,  is wonderful, explains the correct reading order and is massive in scope. As someone who loves to read chronologically about historical topics it is a gold mine. This book begins with the Battle of Hastings and all things Norman conquest. I'm not terribly interested in the period before this so I will start with this book. 

Even if you don't want to read them in any particular order, there is so much here running up to World War II, written in narrative form meant to engage and inform. My favorite kind of historical series!








Friday, June 5, 2026

A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry (William Monk Book 18)

 

Publication Date:
August 28, 2012
Genre: 
Mysteries, Historical Mysteries.   
Length:  
373 pages
Series:
William Monk





Book description courtesy of Goodreads

 As commander of the River Police, Monk is accustomed to violent death, but the entrails hanging from the mutilated female body found on Limehouse Pier one chilly December morning move him with horror and pity. The victim’s name is Zenia Gadney. Her waterfront neighbors can tell him little—only that the same unknown gentleman had visited her once a month for many years. She was quiet and dull, unlike the usual fallen doxy; her pillar of support was respectable Dr Lambourn, recent suicide after his government requisitioned report on opium was discredited.

Monk's old superior Runcorn was first on the scene for Lambourn, and now suspects government suppression. Lambourn's beautiful wife Dinah lies about her whereabouts and denies accusations, but Monk must arrest her despite his belief in her innocence. While public, press, government, and a biased judge push for a quick hanging before Christmas, Monk, his spirited wife Hester, and their brilliant barrister friend Oliver Rathbone, search for answers. From dank waterfront alleys to London’s fabulously wealthy West End, the three trail an ice-blooded murderer toward the unbelievable, possibly unproveable truth—and ultimately engage their adversaries in an electric courtroom duel.

My Thoughts

It took me awhile to finish this book. I kept getting sidetracked by shorter or easier reads. I finally buckled down and read the last hundred pages straight through in two days and that made the story more compelling.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Can't Wait Wednesday: Murder On the Jurassic Coast by Andrea Hicks (A Camille Divine Murder Mystery Book 14)

 



For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, Murder On the Jurassic Coast, by Andrea Hicks. She has written a series of books, Camille Devine Mysteries, and they are my favorite type, taking place in unusual, exotic locations: Sicily, Edinburgh, Cairo, and Paris to name a few. These are my favorite type of escape, cozy mysteries. The Jurassic Coast is an original as I've not seen another one set there. It looks interesting!





Historical Mysteries, Cozy Mysteries

June 30, 2026

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

SUMMER 1925
A windswept coast. A fatal fall. A truth buried deeper than the cliffs themselves…


When Knolly receives a devastating letter from an old friend’s husband, the news is Jill, a vibrant woman despite her disability, has been found dead at the foot of a cliff on the hauntingly beautiful Jurassic Coast. Her wheelchair lies shattered on the rocks...but something doesn’t sit right.

As Knolly and Aaron retreat to the coast to grieve in their newly purchased cottage, Camille and Richard arrive to offer comfort… and ask questions. Why was Jill near the cliff edge at all? Why was her wheelchair damaged in a way no fall could explain? And why are the locals so tight-lipped?

With the police baffled and no arrests made, Camille and her circle are once again drawn into a tangle of secrets, lies, and long-held grudges. Among ancient fossils and crashing waves, a very modern killer is hiding in plain sight.

Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, The Thursday Murder Club, and elegant, character-driven whodunnits, this latest installment in the bestselling Camille Divine Mysteries is layered with intrigue, emotional depth, and deadly deception.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read

 



This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read. I seem to remember doing this topic years ago for Top Ten Tuesday but I was honestly too lazy to go back and find it today, lol. 

I probably have books that keep appearing on this list and then that made me think....Shellie, when are you FINALLY going to read them?  Sigh...it's just my typical book loving self I guess who keeps getting distracted by shiny new ones! Many are classics that I have wanted to buckle down and read for years. 

So here is my list and I guess I really, really need to get going! 

Happy reading y'all!!

**Click on the book title to go to Goodreads.

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas- 
I just finished watching the PBS mini series and it's made me want to finally get started reading this....but it's soooooo long! Kind of intimidating

2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy- This book just seems like the kind you have to read to be educated. It's a true classic. Again, so incredibly long though.

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- 
I loved Jane Eyre but somehow never got around to reading the sister's book.

4. Emma by Jane Austen- I have started this book twice. I was enjoying it and so I think I just stopped because it requires so much focus and concentration which I really need to work on!

5. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen- Some people say this is better than Emma so it's one I can't believe I haven't started.

6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy- The premise of this book doesn't truly interest me but my father even loved it (I get the feeling it's a romance driven novel) so maybe I need to give it a try.

7. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier- Rebecca will always be my favorite by this author but I love the old black and white movie of this book so I'm surprised I've never read it.

8. The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick- This is about a subject I love, William Marshal and a period I love, the 1100's.....I need to get going on this one!

9.The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George- This has been in my Kindle forever. I know nothing about Cleopatra outside of the movie with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It's one I keep forgetting about.

10.The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough- This seems to be a classic and well researched book about Julius Caesar and I'm sure the whole series is amazing. It's another book I've had in my Kindle forever but just haven't started.