ShellieLovesBooks

  Publication Date: October 4, 2011 Length: 368 pages Reading an Anne Perry mystery is like visiting an old friend. I have read many of her Pitt, Monk, and Christmas novels and one from the WW1 series. The comforting thing is that there are so many left to read and she is still writing new books yearly. When I need a break from epic super long books I like to grab one of hers and read it in a few days. She never fails to follow a tried and true formula and that is what appeals to her readers. In this story we find Victorian Era couple Thomas and Charlotte Pitt hot on the trail of a murderer and mysterious woman. Of course Thomas is the policeman and his wife Charlotte is never supposed to be involved in the case but she somehow manages to insert herself every time, much to his dismay. Three years ago Robert York, a British Foreign Officer, was murdered in his home in Hanover Close. The killer has never been caught but the suspicion is that he was killed for secrets he possessed about o

Publication Date: February 18, 2021 Length: 313 pages Queens of Jerusalem is the first non fiction book I have read concerning the Crusader period. I have read many historical fiction books and have been following an excellent podcast (History of the Crusades) for quite awhile now. Thanks to the background knowledge I've amassed lately in fiction and audio shows I really found this book fascinating. This is Pangonis's first book and I think she did a great job!  The following ladies are highlighted in this book: Morphia of Melitene, Alice of Antioch, Melisende of Jerusalem, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Constance of Antioch, Agnes de Courtenay, and her daughter Sybilla of Jerusalem. I was a little surprised that Sybilla's half sister, Isabella didn't get her own chapter but I suspect that had to do with the fact that she wasn't seen to be a strong ruler with great influence in her own right. I also thought including Eleanor of Aquitaine to be a little odd in that she wasn&#