Can't Wait Wednesday: A Recipe For Murder by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 21)

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring,A Recipe For Murder, by Verity Bright. I am finally reading book 11, Death Down the Aisle, which is where I left off a few months ago. This series was my first introduction to cozy mysteries and it remains in my top favorites. This book has Lady Eleanor and her dashing beau Detective Hugh Seldon planning their nuptials when their chef is poisoned. As more murders occur she must work to find the killer before they harm her or anyone else. Even Hugh is in danger and needs her help this time!

Cozy Historical Mystery

March 31, 2025

Book Description courtesy of GoodReads:

Cream cakes, cucumber sandwiches, apple tarts and… poison? Lady Swift is trying to plan the menu for her wedding, until murder strikes in kitchens across the village!

Lady Eleanor Swift’s marriage to dashing Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon is just days away. There’s a lot to organise from the dress to the catering, including, of course, the all-important wedding cake.

But Eleanor is heartbroken when their chef, apple-cheeked Annie Tibetts, dies of poisoning. And as the doctor confirms her death wasn’t an accident, accusations fly around the whole community.

With more of the village struck down by the poison, Eleanor must unmask a killer who seems intent on spreading chaos amongst her nearest and dearest. Everyone is accusing their neighbour… and Eleanor is in a pickle as the seating plans for the wedding fall apart. But she soon has bigger fish to fry when the source of the poison is traced to a trusted establishment in town. Eleanor is certain they are being framed and that sabotage is afoot…

And when a sample of poisoned wedding cake is delivered anonymously to Hugh working at his station miles away in Oxford, Eleanor realises that while she has been planning for the future, her past has been catching up with her. Eleanor must race across the countryside to save her love from certain death. Can Eleanor find the proof in the pudding and save Hugh in time? And will the poisoner finally get their just desserts?

 

Stacking the Shelves #48

 

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!

Borrowed audiobook and book from Libby: Free

This is the second book in the Jane Wunderly series. I enjoyed the other two I've read and wanted to go back and see how the one set in England turned out. I like that these books are following her from overseas back to America and then to other exotic locations. That sounds like a lot of fun! In this one she works with her love interest, Redvers, to solve a murder at the home of Lord Hughes, where she is a guest. 

Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: $1.49 with points:

I am so behind on this series! For a long time I read one each season. The books follow a seasonal rotation with locations and theme. I really like that idea. This one I should have finished over the fall but life got busy. I think this was my first series exposure to "cozies" and I love it but have found so many others to read now. I finally bought it and need to get going in March. This is the 11th book and the series I've read the most from. Eleanor attends a wedding and of course......stumbles into another murder to solve. With the help of her love interest, Dectective Hugh Seldon, she is on the case!

Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: $0.99 with points:

The title and cover appealed to me because of course, Egypt and pyramids. Oh, and a mystery too! My favorite kind of book. I had never heard of the author or series so thanks Book Bub for introducing it to me. It is book two of a three part series written by an English author. I might wait to read this one until I've read book one. It is part of the Ursula Marlowe Series and there are three books in all. Set at the turn of the 20th Century, it features a young heiress who finds murder and mysteries to solve. I love the covers and it has that old time classic feel to it. 

A King's Ransom by Sharon Kay Penman (Plantagenets Book 5)

 

Publication Date: March 4, 2014

Genre: Historical Fiction/Medieval Fiction

Series: Plantagenet Saga

Length: 685 pages

Book Description (GoodReads):

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Lionheart comes the dramatic sequel, telling of the last dangerous years of Richard, Coeur de Lion’s life.
 
This long-anticipated sequel to the national bestseller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home—in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders—he was to spend fifteen months chained in a dungeon while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom. But a further humiliation awaited him: he was forced to kneel and swear fealty to his bitter enemy.

For the five years remaining to him, betrayals, intrigues, wars, and illness were ever present. So were his infidelities, perhaps a pattern set by his father’s faithlessness to Eleanor. But the courage, compassion, and intelligence of this warrior king became the stuff of legend, and A King’s Ransom brings the man and his world fully and powerfully alive.

My Thoughts:

When I read the last sentence of this book Sunday night I was pretty elated. Not because I'm done and didn't like it but because I've finished all the books in this series which I started during Covid. I felt like I'd accomplished something big! Penman's books are so amazing they take awhile to read carefully. And there were times I thought I'd never finish a chapter, trying hard to concentrate on everything going on. 

It made me want to go back and re-read The Land Beyond the Sea, her last book and set during the period of Saladin and Baldwin, The Leper King. So I am reading it again before I start another epic. 

If I'm honest, this was my least favorite of the series. It was still amazing! Penman doesn't write a bad book, period. This one just wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. The one before, Lionheart, was so intense and so beautifully written it was hard to top though. In this story, we spend a lot of time inside Richard's head. Penman said that she felt her novel Lionheart was about Richard the warrior and A King's Ransom was about Richard the man. I totally agree.

Richard leaves the Holy Land at the end of Lionheart. This book picks up at that point and takes us in spectacular detail through his attempted journey back to Europe. Through a series of bad events, he is captured first by Leopold, the Duke of Austria who has a major axe to grind with him, and then handed over to brutal captivity in the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry Hohenstaufen. His mother Eleanor works back home to raise his ransom. After three long years he is freed but must now deal with his shady brother John and arch enemy Phillip of France as they have sought to steal Richard's kingdom and thwart his freedom at every turn. They never anticipated Richard would be freed. Now, as John says, "Look to yourself... the devil is loose!" They are panicked and realize their schemes will be revealed and have no idea how Richard will react. 

Can't Wait Wednesday: Homicide in the Indian Hills by Erica Ruth Neubauer (A Jane Wunderly Mystery Book 6)

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, Homicide in the Indian HIlls, by Erica Ruth Neubauer. I've read books one and three in this series and they were fun. I like the series mysteries that take place in unique, exotic places and hers generally do. 

The books feature heroine sleuth, Jane Wunderly, and her mysterious love interest, called Redvers.  I have started with book two this week. The only reason I skipped it was that it takes place in England and I really wanted to read the others taking place in other countries. Hope you've found something you can't wait to read this week. Happy reading ya'll!

Historical Mystery

March 25, 2025

Book Description courtesy of GoodReads:

Intrepid American newlywed Jane Wunderly learns that tigers aren’t the only dangers lurking in 1920s India, when a murder in a popular resort town threatens to destabilize the local government and undermine the resistance movement for Indian self-rule . . .

Ooty, 1927: Accompanying Mr. Redvers on an assignment to Ootycamund to quell revolutionary rumblings, Jane finds there’s more than meets the eye to India’s Queen of Hill Stations. Ooty’s lush tea plantations and tranquil gardens barely conceal its secrets--scandalous affairs, political sabotage, and a mounting anti-colonial movement. Even Redvers intends to subvert his official mission in Ooty, by arranging a series of clandestine meetings with local resistance leaders. But it’s not until the shocking death of a British national that Jane and Redvers are truly drawn into Ooty’s deepest shadows.

Jane’s suspicions that the death is more than a tragic accident are soon confirmed, but word of a murder could stoke Ooty’s simmering tensions into a full boil. Navigating corrupt local officials, festering personal vendettas, and a complicated network of bureaucratic entanglements that lead to the top tiers of government, Jane and Redvers edge closer to the truth…and its deadly consequences. Someone is willing to spill blood to protect their interests, will Jane become just another of Ooty’s darkest secrets?
 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Another Time

 

This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is "Books Set in Another Time." Since that is practically all I read that is an easy topic for me! Here are my top ten favorites right now although I think with more time I'd probably change the list constantly. 

The link will take you to Goodreads if you are interested in the book. You won't be disappointed in any of these if they are in a genre you enjoy. Happy reading ya'll!

1. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman- Crusader period 1100's

2. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon- Scotland/Caribbean 1700's 

3. The Falcon of Palermo by Maria R. Bordihn- Sicily 1100's-1200's

4. The Iron King by Maurice Druon- France- 1300's

5. Gracelin O'Malley by Ann Moore- Ireland- 1800's

6. Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry- Victorian England- 1800's

7. Uneasy Lies the Crown by N. Gemini Sasson- Scotland- 13-1400's

8. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie- England- 1900's

9. Highland Fling by Amanda Scott- Scotland- 1700's

10.Pirates and Patriots by David Field- Elizabethan England- 1500's

I could honestly have a list of 100 or more books here. I absolutely love historical fiction and most of the books I've listed also belong to a series in which all the books are great. This list was hard to whittle down!

Stacking the Shelves #47

 

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!

Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: Free with points:

This setting looked unique and I'm always looking for lesser known series. I hadn't heard of this one or the author either before. Described as an "elegant mystery filled with intriguing characters," and a Downton Abbey vibe I thought I'd get it. I loved the cover also. That drew me in right away. It's the typical Lord and Lady story who solve a murder mystery so that is something I know I'll like. There are four books in the series which seems to have ended in 2016.

Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: Free Friday books from Hourly History website:

Every Friday I get my Hourly History newsletter with free books! Many are subjects I'm not interested in but this one I for sure want to read. I love the show on HBO Max about The Gilded Age and want to learn more behind it. I confess that I love history but am not schooled very well on this subject even though I am American. It's kind of glossed over quickly in our classes. These books are all meant to be read in...well....an hour, hence the name of the series. 

Borrow from Libby App: Free

I have read the first two in this series and think I'm ready for the next one. I think they are really funny and clever, although sometimes I'm not in the mood if I want a more serious mystery or less constant humor. But then I go back to wondering what Lady Georgie is doing and I need to check in! She goes home to Castle Rannoch in Scotland and I love that.  It also involves the Prince of Wales and his "divorcee houseguest" which we all know refers to Wallis Simpson. This one looks fun. 

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot Book 32)

 

Publication Date: February 1952

Genre: Classic Mysteries/Cozy Mysteries

Series: Hercule Poirot Mysteries 

Length: 243 pages

Book Description (GoodReads):

In Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, one of Agatha Christie’s most ingenious mysteries, the intrepid Hercule Poirot must look into the case of a brutally murdered landlady.

Mrs. McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion falls immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes reveal traces of the victim’s blood and hair. Yet something is amiss: Bentley just doesn’t seem like a murderer.

Could the answer lie in an article clipped from a newspaper two days before the death? With a desperate killer still free, Hercule Poirot will have to stay alive long enough to find out. . . .

My Thoughts:

My favorite Christie books feature Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. So this one looked like a winner. I unfortunately could not access the current Read Christie book, So this was a suggested alternate choice.

I thought there were a lot of characters to keep up with and off shoot storylines. I had to think hard to keep them all straight. Basically the story centers around the death of an elderly landlady, Mrs. McGinty and her convicted murderer, James Bentley. The local superintendent is not so sure he did it as there was the feeling of it being staged. Poirot is called in to investigate and as usual, can spot holes in the case right away. With his foreign flair and investigative skills he soon uncovers a much deeper answer....it involves the past of a local woman and her child and he has to interview multiple townspeople and sift through their personal drama to get to the bottom of things. 

At least one of the characters had me convinced they were the murderer for a good part of the book. They way she was portrayed had me strung along. There is no way I'd have guessed the ending as it really was cleverly disguised behind one small clue that most of us would overlook. Of course Poirot doesn't! Mrs. McGinty was a bit of a sleuth herself which ultimately puts her in the spotlight of danger and Poirot has to figure out who would use the information she obtained to silence her. But he's convinced from the beginning it isn't Bentley.

One character, Maude Williams, who once worked with Bentley doesn't believe he is capable of murder and offers to help with the case. A possible weapon is found in a local home, further giving rise to Poirot's suspicions, and a mysterious photo leads him to believe some people are not who they claim to be. 

I thought this was a decent attempt for Christie but it was pretty complicated at times. I found my mind wandering as I tried to keep up with everything. The ending was satisfying and unique though and didn't reveal itself until the last moment. 

I'm looking forward to March and the next Read Christie selection!

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Whitechapel Widow by Emily Organ (A Emma Langley Victorian Mystery Book One)

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Whitechapel Widow, by Emily Organ. It is book one of the new Emma Langley Victorian Mystery Series and looks like a book for fans of Anne Perry. It is a little edgier than the average cozy and considering it involves the time and era of Jack the Ripper I'm not sure you'd call it a cozy. But the mystery looks intriguing as a woman tries to get to the bottom of who murdered her husband In Whitechapel London. It does say in the comments it is a clean mystery so nothing too disturbing here. I think I might have to start this series. 

I hope you've found a book you can't wait for this week. Happy reading ya'll!

Historical Mystery

March 27, 2025

Book Description courtesy of GoodReads:

London hunts the Ripper. A widow hunts her husband's killer.

London, 1888. While Jack the Ripper's reign of terror grips the city, Emma Langley's world shatters when her husband is found murdered in Whitechapel. But grief is quickly overshadowed by a startling discovery. William Langley was not the man she thought she knew.

As panic fills London's streets, Emma delves into her husband's secret life, uncovering a web of lies that stretches from glittering society drawing rooms to the seedy gambling dens of the East End. Aided by Penny Green, a former reporter with a nose for trouble, Emma follows a trail of blackmail and corruption.

But exposing her husband's killer could make her the next victim and in the shadows of gaslit streets, a murderer waits, ready to strike again…

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Never Reviewed (but maybe I should!)

 

This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is "Books I Never Reviewed." Wow....that is hard to narrow down to just ten. My blog is only three years old so there are plenty to choose from. Sometimes I think of reviewing my favorites that I read long ago but is that cheating when you run a book blog? I mean, do I have to have read it that week for it to count? It's an interesting thought. Go back and write reviews for books I read five years ago? Even with Outlander I re-read them before I reviewed them.

Anyway here are ten books I really enjoyed but haven't reviewed. Maybe I should! Happy reading ya'll!

**No covers displayed due to time, but the titles are linked to Goodreads if you want more information on one of these amazing books!

1. The Murder On the Links by Agatha Christie (Cozy Mystery)

2. The Six Wives of Henry the VIII by Alison Weir (History- British Biography)

3. Highland Spirits by Amanda Scott (Historical Scottish Romance)

4. Leaving Ireland by Ann Moore (Historical Irish Romance)

5. Poldark by Winston Graham (Historical Fiction Cornwall)

6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Historical Fiction Russia )

7. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (Historical Fiction/Romance)

8. Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow (Historical Fiction set in Charleston)

9. Queen of This Realm by Jean Plaidy (Historical Biography of Elizabeth II)

10. Into Africa by Martin Dugard (History- Stanley and Livingstone's discovery)

Stacking the Shelves #46

 

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!

Borrowed from Libby App:

I waited over a month for this one! I was excited to see it finally available. This author is very popular and this is her latest. Set in two different time periods it's not a novel I'd usually read but it involves Egyptian archaeology, museums, and a mystery so it looks intriguing. I'm on chapter 5 already and still hooked so I'm hoping I'm not disappointed. Looking at her other books I'm not sure if I'd like the settings but if this one is well written I might give them a try. It jumps back and forth between two main characters, Charlotte and Annie. Charlotte lives and works in 1970's New York and Annie lives in the same era. But we will be transported back to the 1930's to hear Charlotte's story. Traveling to Egypt something sinister happens and we will spend the book finding out what.

Purchase for Kindle: $1.99 on sale 

This is a book I will flip through and read when I need a break and just want to read a random chapter. It details all the major Queens of Scotland from Lady MacBeth to Anne. I'll just probably read it from week to week slowly and not necessarily in order. But that is nice as novels can sometimes take up so much of my time I don't read as much non fiction. This is in keeping with my goal to change that this year. I don't know a lot about the Queens of Scotland so I'm looking forward to a mini biography of each one.

Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited: 

This is book one in a mystery series I'd not seen before. It involves a sixteenth century Scottish lawyer, Hew Cullen, who is trying to solve a case of the murder of a teenager and accusations of misconduct by a Professor at the St. Andrews University. I love books set in Scotland and I love mysteries even more so I'm hoping this one is good. There are four more in the series too if I am wanting to continue. 

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