Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Can't Wait Wednesday: Murder at Enscombe Park by Vanessa Kelly (Emma Knightley Mysteries Book 3)

 


For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, Murder at Enscombe Park, by Vanessa Kelly. I haven't started this series yet but it looks really cute. Even though I am not a huge Jane Austen aficionado I understand her popularity and it makes sense why these mysteries would appeal to those who enjoy a cute "what if" spin on her fictional life. 




Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery

November 24, 2026

Book description courtesy of Goodreads:

When Jane Austen’s Regency-era heroine Emma Knightley visits her pregnant friend Jane and her husband Frank Churchill at their Yorkshire estate, a proper country house party soon becomes the site of a ghastly murder . . .

Emma, her husband George, and her father and his new wife have journeyed to Enscombe Park, the grand estate where Jane and Frank live with his uncle, who adopted Frank as a boy.  Upon their arrival, they are concerned to find Jane wan from her condition, Frank bruised from a mysterious accident, and Mr. Churchill in an ill temper, as well as surprised by additional houseguests including Miss Caroline Bingley and a distant cousin from the West Indies.

Emma worries this might all be too much for Jane, but it is Mr. Churchill who is decidedly out-of-sorts, possibly due to his heart medication. When Frank’s uncle is found dead in the library, it appears he’s fallen victim to heart seizure. But Emma—despite George’s admonitions to stay out of it—begins to wonder if he may have been poisoned.

Experience has taught Emma that her matchmaking instincts may not always be spot-on, but her sleuthing skills are as sharp as ever. As a recently altered will and secret debts come to light, suspicion falls on Frank Churchill of all people. Now it’s up to Emma to save her friend’s husband from the gallows . 



Sunday, November 1, 2026

Stacking the Shelves #110


 
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!

Click on the cover to learn more about the book!





Sceptred Isle by Helen Carr: A New History of the Fourteenth Century

Paperback purchase: $17 (not available in the U.S. on Kindle that I could find)

I am finishing up Carr's bestseller, The Red Prince, and it is so well written. I have been really interested in the Hundred Years War lately but I don't like books that are written about it because they tend to always get bogged down in military history. I think this new book of hers will give me a lot of insight into things without just focusing on battles. It covers the 1300's when the war was happening so I know it will also explain the why behind it all and that is what I really like to learn about with history topics. 






Lionessheart: The Life and Times of Joanna Plantagenet by Catherine Hanley

Hoopla Digital borrow: Free

This book has been highly recommended by people in the medieval podcast world. Hanley has written many books on subjects I'm interested in but her books are hard to borrow or buy with any sort of a discount here in the U.S. I was excited to see this one about the sister of Richard I free to borrow with my Hoopla account. 




A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O'Brien 

Kindle purchase: 99 cents this week

I started O'Brien's book about Cecily Neville but I'm still working on it. This one I probably won't get to any time soon but at 99 cents I jump on those deals! It is about the Paston family, whom I know nothing about, during the Wars of the Roses. The family tries to survive during this tumultuous time by making advantageous marriages and avoiding scandal. I like historical fiction that focuses on real people and not so much on fictitious characters.