Stacking the Shelves #27

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :) 

I am always interested in books set in exotic places in past historical times. This new author, Nilima Rao is of Fijian Indian descent and grew up in Australia. This mystery story, set in Colonial Fiji in 1914 follows policeman Akal Singh who is assigned the case of a missing Indian woman from a sugarcane plantation. It looks unique and I'm sure with the author's background he will be able to add interesting cultural and historical insights. 

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. 

This is one of my Amazon Prime reading choices for March. It tells the story of Athelstan's reign in AD 925. I don't find many books from this period. I'm not sure if I'll get to it in March but I'm going to try since it is free to read during that month. Book one of a three part series, a reviewer called it "Game of Thrones meets The Last Kingdom."  If there are too many battle scenes this might not be my cup of tea, but maybe someone else will see this and like it. 

Stacking the Shelves #26

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I am very interested in reading this book as it is hard to find a history of France and England during these years. The author, Catherine Hanley was on the Gone Medieval podcast promoting it and she is very knowledgeable about the subject. She has written several history books I would like to read. 

I had not heard of this series before but it takes place in Scotland in the 1540's and involves castles, sieges, Mary Queen of Scots, and Henry the VIII. What's not to love about that? Also, it's free with my Kindle Unlimited free trial. That ends in March so I need to get going with this one. 

I was drawn to this book because of the description, "Boris Akunin is hailed as Russia's Christie and Conan Doyle." It looks unique and interesting and is set during the time of Tsar Nicholas II. I love that time period and having a mystery featuring one of the Grand Dukes along with an international criminal plot sounds like a fun read. 

Stacking the Shelves #25

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I recently watched Little Dorit the miniseries and absolutely loved it. So when I saw this book was set in Marshalsea Prison I was immediately interested. It looks gritty but I want to give it a try. This author is new to me too and this is book one of her Thomas Hawkins series. It reminds me a bit of Anne Perry's Monk series in that it is more of a realistic, historical setting than that of a cozy mystery. I enjoy the 18th century as well and this book is set in the early 1700's. A man shares a cell with a possible murderer and must try to expose him before he himself is killed. 

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.

Well it looks like I'm just in a mystery mood this week, lol. This is book three in Alyssa Maxwell's Gilded Age series. I've read and reviewed books one and two and honestly had forgotten them for awhile. Book One has been made into a movie which will air this Friday on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. Although they aren't my favorite cozy mysteries, they do evoke the era well and have grown on me. Murder at the Breakers  will be fun to watch come to life on screen. 

 

Stacking the Shelves #24

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

Another cozy mystery on sale for 99 cents this week that I couldn't pass up. This is the first in the series which I like to start with if possible and looks like an original location. Who wouldn't love a Miss Fisher like mystery set on a beautiful French estate? 

I always gravitate to titles with anything Napoleonic Wars era. It is a time period I know little about and rare in historical fiction. While this is more of a story about a family and their troubles in the mid-1800's, it references back to the wars thirty years earlier. Set in Wales and written by a Welsh author it looks very unique. It is book one of the Carmarthen Chronicles. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars recounts his years on the battle field to a younger friend. 

While out shopping for other things, I snuck into Half Price Books because I love to browse and see if I find anything I can't get on Kindle or just want to collect. I was so excited to find three Jean Plaidy books that I don't have. I started reading her books when I was in my 20's and I love to collect them. Some you can't even get at all anymore. This one is book 3 in her Catherine de Medici series. It was in perfect shape and looked hardly touched. For $7 it was a steal! 

Stacking the Shelves #23

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

The cover of this mystery drew my eye. Then I started reading about the series and I was interested enough to buy book one. Set in Scotland in 1802 and written by a Scottish historian who lives in the highlands it looks like it would be a good one to try. The premise involves a University student who is drawn into a murder mystery when a fellow student is killed. The series is called Murray of Letho, after the main character, Charles Murray. There are thirteen books in the series and they all seem very unique. 

This was on sale and is book one of Tomlin's Archibald the Grim series. It is a sequel to her Black Douglas trilogy which I own but haven't read yet. I recently read and reviewed book one of her Stewart series but that is the only one of her books I've read so far. These seem to be very popular and seem to be well researched. Set in Scotland in the year 1338, it tells the story of Archibald, the Black Douglas's son, who as a young boy, fights for the Scottish throne. 

I just can't seem to stop browsing cozy mysteries. The beautiful covers, exotic locations, and escape from the world make them so enjoyable. This book was free in Kindle Unlimited but was only 99 cents to buy and is book one in the series. It takes place in 1900 on the maiden voyage of the ship S.S. Minneapolis. It is part of the series Flora Maguire and is set in Edwardian England. The vast majority of cozy mysteries these days are set in the 1920's so I thought this one would be different from a lot I've read lately. This author has another series, Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet, set in the WWI era. 

Stacking the Shelves #22

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I have recently become interested in learning more about the Hundred Years War period and am finding it very hard to find historical fiction set in that era. This series is not exactly about the war per se but takes place then. It seems like a mystery series folded into the war with the main characters solving a conspiracy while fighting major battles. I hope it's good!

This book has been on my radar for awhile. It's another in the cozy mystery genre that takes place in the 1920's but as the setting is Egypt and the pyramids I am hooked. Hoping it is a good one and well written as this author has several others that look interesting. So far the first couple of pages have been good with some historical information, which is why I love historical mysteries.

I had not heard of this author before but ran across this book and many others by her this week available on Kindle (although hard to find in the library). She wrote most of her novels in the 1940's and 1950's and they center around royals, often ones that are overlooked. This book concerns Richard II and he is definitely not a focus in much historical fiction literature. This details his life in a sympathetic way, the author convinced he has been unfairly portrayed by the Lancaster family, who stole his rightful place in the succession and were responsible for his death. It should be a unique book, but from what I've seen so far, is solidly researched. 

Stacking the Shelves #21

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

**BTW: Kindle Unlimited is offering three months for just $.99. That's a steal! I will probably cancel when the offer is up in February and it's super easy to do so if you don't want to continue to pay the monthly fee. 

It's finally December and I'm feeling very festive right now! This came free with my Kindle Unlimited subscription and although it's Book 4 of the series I might start here because it's the Christmas season. I'm always looking for good new cozy mysteries to read in between more challenging books. The series is called Lord Edgington Investigates. There are so many cozy mysteries with female leads so I like to find and promote those with a male investigator when I can. If you've read any of these let me know what you think!

This is another book I got from my Kindle Unlimited membership. It is part of a series of 10 books called John Wingate Historical Thrillers. This book was first published in 1983 and has been reissued with a more modern cover. The reviews say it is a good, solid, well researched book and I am kind of obsessed with the early Norman period right now. This is one I'm definitely putting on my TBR list. Unfortunately, if I love it I'm out of luck for more as the other books in the series are Cold War era maritime thrillers; not a subject I'm very interested in. I'm very curious as to what made this author choose to stray from his standard formula to write this one book from this period. 

I have seen this book around for a bit and it is on sale for $1.99 on Amazon Kindle this week. I've said before I'm a sucker for beautiful covers and this one is very pretty. I hadn't realized it was by a crime detective author who wrote in the early 20th Century and thought it was a new book for awhile. It was republished in 2021 for the first time in 95 years. It says it was the "mystery even Agatha Christie couldn't solve!"

This is a murder mystery set in the "dead of winter in a secluded country manor." Perfect for a January read. If you've read some of Anthony Berkeley's books leave me a comment and let me know if you like him.

Stacking the Shelves #20

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I am really enjoying this author's book, The Conscience of a King, about Simon de Montfort and Henry III. I have three of his books set during and just after the Norman Conquest. This is his first book in his Tudor series and it centers around Henry VII. The series finishes with Elizabeth I and includes a book on Cardinal Wolsey and another on Thomas Cromwell. These are subjects that rarely get their own book. I bought this first one in the series and hope to read it soon. He has a simple style but he combines solid historical fact with a great narrative that really teaches history in an interesting way. Simple, but effective. It was on sale on Kindle for $1.00 this week too so that was a great find.

I hope to read and review this one in time for New Year's Eve. I've been reading a lot of history and heavy historical fiction so it's fun to get back to my Verity Bright series and see what is happening with Eleanor, Clifford, and Gladstone the bulldog. There are so many cozy mystery series out there but this one is my favorite! The only one I've really stuck with in order from the beginning. I got it for only $2.00 with my Amazon Kindle credits this week.

This author is kind of hard to find unless you want to pay full price. Libby and Hoopla don't carry many of her books and my local library here in Texas has none.  I didn't mind buying this one because for some inexplicable reason I am fascinated by the events in the country of Burgundy during the 1400's and I know Margaret of York marries into the royal family eventually. This book centers around her life and so it seems like a unique one. If you've read it let me know what you think. Also, if you've read anything by this author as she's a new one for me. I own her book, Queen By Right, about Cecily Neville but still haven't read it yet.

Stacking the Shelves #19

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I have been listening to a great podcast called Gone Medieval and this author was interviewed about his work on Henry VII. He has other books on that subject but this one really caught my eye because it is rare to find a book on just the Beaufort family, Henry's ancestors. I can't think of another one like it. It should be interesting as the author was informative but not stuffy and boring either. 

It's time to start the November Read Christie book. This one doesn't feature either Poirot or Marple but it does say on the synopsis that it was one of Agatha Christie's personal favorites. It is hard to believe that next month is the last for this challenge of 2023. It has been a lot of fun participating!

I already own book 1 in this series but haven't started it yet. They just look interesting and unique so hopefully they can go on my TBR list soon. It's part of a mystery series called Captain Lacey and the author goes by both Jennifer Ashley and Ashley Gardner, depending on which series she's writing. I like to start with the first book but this is book 12 and was on sale so I went ahead and bought it. It centers around a Captain returning home from the Napoleonic Wars who becomes involved in various mysteries and I'm always drawn to a series like this with a strong male lead in the Regency era.

Stacking the Shelves #18

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I have wanted to read Georgette Heyer for awhile now and see her reviewed positively by so many of my fellow bloggers. This book particularly interests me due to the focus on the Napoleonic Wars period so I'm thinking it's a good place to start. I have borrowed a copy from the Libby App and started today. I am very confused by some of the initial conversation but that hopefully will iron itself out as I continue with the book. Also, I'm going to probably swap it out for one of the classics on my Classics Club list that just isn't doing it for me. If you've read this one, did you like it?

It's time to start another Cadfael book. The last one I read was book 4, St. Peter's Fair and it wasn't my favorite but this one looks unique and interesting. I like to go in order with most series books I read so this is next. Always full of great atmosphere set in the 1100's world of Shrewsbury and Wales, the Cadfael Chronicles are fun to pick up for a quick read and great mystery. Also, they are often on sale so you can slowly collect them all for around $1.99 each. My daily Book Bub emails really pay off when it comes to Kindle books!

I read and reviewed MacLean's stand alone novel, The Bookseller of Inverness recently and really enjoyed it. This is book one in the Captain Damian Seeker series and I always hear good things about the novels. Set during the Cromwell period in London, it has been called, "the best historical crime novel of the year" by one paper and that sounds like a book I should try. Another one I got on sale for $1.99 this week thanks to my daily Early Bird Books email. 

Stacking the Shelves #17

 

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. Enjoy your reading this week :) 

When a book is described as perfect for fans of Anne Perry I'm always interested. This title is similar to one of her mysteries I've read, Silence in Hanover Close. It is also set during the Napoleonic Wars which I love. A returning soldier, a missing girl, and political intrigue make this mystery very enticing. I will be reading this one in the coming weeks for sure. 

I am currently reading Carol McGrath's The Stolen Crown, about Empress Matilda and the Anarchy period. This book was also on sale for me this week and is the first in the She Wolf trilogy. I do not know much about Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III so I want to try this book and move on to the other two after it. I know some of my fellow bloggers really enjoy her novels so I'm looking forward to it. And such gorgeous covers too!

This book I borrowed from the Libby app to listen to on audio. I have been really enjoying Christie books in my car on the way to work. I generally don't like audiobooks but for this author they are a great fit for me. So almost all my audio listens are Christie. I had never heard of this one and as I love Poirot best, I thought I'd try it. I'm not doing the October Read Christie book because it's one I'd already read. But I just wanted to pick another to keep it going. Has anyone read this one? What did you think?