Book reviews featuring history, historical fiction, and mysteries, as well as my thoughts on all things bookish.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
A Royal Murder by Verity Bright (Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 9)
Monday, April 15, 2024
Dark Clouds Over Nuala by Harriet Steel (The Inspector de Silva Mysteries) Book Two
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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Conquest by David Field (The Medieval Saga Series Book One)
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Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Can't Wait Wednesday: A Death in Venice by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery: Book 17)
For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring A Death in Venice by Verity Bright. I can't believe this is already book 17 in this series. I am planning to read books 9, 10, 11, and 12 this year. Maybe one day I will catch up! Always a lot of fun, this story features Eleanor and her crew on a grand tour of Italy. Of course she becomes entangled in yet another murder and must follow the clues.
Stunning views across the Grand Canal and a hotel suite fit for royalty… Lady Eleanor Swift is having a jolly good time on her Italian vacation, until a gondola ride is cut murderously short!
1924. Lady Eleanor Swift has been on a grand tour around Italy for a month with her butler Clifford. Finally arriving in Venice, she’s thrilled to be attending the famous carnival: all that’s needed is the perfect bejewelled costume for her faithful bulldog, Gladstone. But on her first gondola ride to take in the sights, a passenger collapses into the canal with a knife sticking out of his back.
Eleanor saw an argument break out between the gondolier and the victim, Councillor Benetto Vendelini, and it turns out they're rivals from the city's two great families. Vendelini’s murder is sure to reignite their centuries-long feud. While attending a glitzy ball that night, Eleanor learns of a plot to steal a precious family heirloom from the Vendelini household. Is the stolen item the key to solving this baffling murder?
In this floating city of tiny winding alleyways, Eleanor traces the missing heirloom to an antiques dealer in a far-flung corner of town. But when her handbag is snatched by a cloaked thief, she realises the murderer is dangerously close. Can Eleanor unmask this most cunning of killers, before she joins the other victim at the bottom of the Grand Canal?
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Stacking the Shelves #27
It is hard to find books set around the time of Richard II and Henry IV. This historical mystery, set in 1399, follows Brother Chandler, who is asked to investigate the killing of a nun in London, whose remains were tossed into the river. As he looks into the murder, Henry Bolingbroke is advancing toward the city, set on taking the throne from his cousin, Richard. This sounds a bit like a Cadfael mystery set in a different era. Hoping it is good as it is book one of a three part series.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Noteworthy News #3: History Hit: Tutankhamen and the Valley of the Kings
I didn't have a review this week as I'm currently reading two books, one of which is an 800 page Penman epic and I'm nowhere near finished with my shorter book either. So I wanted to shift gears from reviewing and post some noteworthy news. In thinking about something interesting I've run across lately, I wanted to give a mention to the series on the podcast, History Hit, about the Valley of the Kings and the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. I have listened to the first episode and it is an award winning series with four episodes total. As work has been crazy in February I have been doing more listening and less reading. But that's okay because this series is so good!
Saturday, February 24, 2024
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (Book One Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries) Read Christie February 2024 Selection
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Sunday, February 18, 2024
The Leper of Saint Giles by Ellis Peters (Cadfael Chronicles Book 5)
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Sunday, February 11, 2024
Stacking the Shelves #26
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
The Wintringham Mystery (Cicely Disappears) by Anthony Berkeley
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Death On Board by Anita Davison (The Flora Maguire Mysteries Book One)
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Sunday, January 28, 2024
Stacking the Shelves #25
This is a book I added to my Classics Club page in case I decide to continue with the challenge. I recently posted that I'd be dropping the whole thing for now but who knows? This book looked different and I'd not read anything by this author either. It was on sale for 99 cents this week on Kindle. It sounds a bit like a Jane Austen book if her books were historical mysteries.
Friday, January 26, 2024
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (Book One: Hercule Poirot Mysteries) Read Christie January 2024 Selection
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Can't Wait Wednesday: The Abandoned Queen by Austin Hernon (Berengaria of Navarre Medieval Trilogy Book Two)
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Having married Richard the Lionheart, Berengaria of Navarre is now preparing herself for the turbulent life of a queen.
Though he has not yet secured an heir, Richard is determined not to settle down until he has recaptured Jerusalem from the Saracen forces. Vowing to stay by his side for as long as possible, Berengaria accompanies him on the perilous voyage to the Holy Land.
Caught up in battle plans, Richard has barely a moment to spare for his new bride. And after witnessing a sea battle and a deadly siege in Akko, Berengaria is left disturbed by the king’s ruthlessness.
Surrounded by misery and bloodshed, the young queen begins to understand the true cost of war. And as Richard becomes ever more consumed by his ambitions, she starts to wonder whether their marriage will ever have a chance to flourish…
Will Richard survive his brutal Crusade? Will he and Berengaria return to England in triumph?
Or will the horrors of war tear their marriage apart?
The Abandoned Queen is the second historical novel in The Berengaria of Navarre Medieval Trilogy: Early Plantagenet novels set during the Third Crusade and the reign of Richard the Lionheart.