Noteworthy News #10: History Mystery Chicks

 

It's time for another Noteworthy News because there is always something in the bookish/history world that catches my eye or ear, and I want to share! This week it is my discovery of the Facebook site History Mystery Chicks. 

I joined the group and it is so much fun for those of us who love historical mysteries. It is run by authors Abigail Keam and Charlotte Oliver and they feature other authors that post as well. Several are writers of mysteries I'd already been reading too so it is really fun to be able to interact with them. 

There is a newsletter you can subscribe to as well as book tours, prizes, games, and challenges. I won a book through one of the author "takeovers" and received it the same day through Book Funnel. The takeover is when they have an author take over the site for a couple of hours to answer questions and promote their new books. 

You can find out about new authors, upcoming and newly released mysteries by established ones, and ask questions about them which are often answered directly by the authors. It really feels like a personal connection with them.

Sometimes they will post questions to answer for fun and interesting tidbits about fashion or etiquette from bygone eras. I've learned some random facts that relate to storylines from books or just things the authors think fans might find unique. One of my examples would be when they posted about how they decided on the clothes their characters may have worn in their 1920's setting.

If you are a fan of historical mysteries then you definitely have to join this site. It is a lot of fun!

Stacking the Shelves #64

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 Queen's Children: The Start of the Stuart reign in England by Raymond Wemmlinger

Amazon Kindle purchase- $0.99

This is the fourth book in Raymond Wemmlinger's series. I'd forgotten I'd pre-ordered it on sale so it was fun to see it appear in my Kindle yesterday. The covers are beautiful and the characters intriguing. I have several already but have yet to start the series. 

This book and the previous book in the series are both about Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England. In the previous book he focuses on her life as Queen of Scotland when she is younger and in this one she is Queen of England as well when James takes the throne.  The queen gives birth to the line of Stuart children who they hope will reign over England for years to come. I am putting his whole series on my TBR pile for the future as I collect them. He has another coming out in November 2025. 

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot Book 32)

Libby Audiobook borrow: Free

I have not participated fully in the Read Christie challenge this year due to vacations, already have read it, or just not interested in that month's book. I've truly missed it so since I already am behind and school is starting back up I thought I'd get a jump on the next read I’m doing and get ahead! This one I'm listening to driving to school and back. I absolutely love the Hercule Poirot audiobooks because Hugh Fraser narrates them and he does a great job. 

In this story there is a lot going on of course: murder, jewels, plane crashes, mysterious lights at a girls school, and a revolution in the making in the Middle East. Unique and keeping you guessing for sure. I'm really enjoying it so far, trying to figure out how it all ties together. 

Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse (Blandings Castle Series Book 1)

Amazon Kindle Purchase: $0.99

P.G. Wodehouse is a name that sounded familiar to me but I wasn't quite sure what he'd written. I discovered he's the author of the, what I call, "Jeeves the Butler" books. In this series he takes it to America but with the same dry humor and witty stories about Lords and their castles and stuffy traditions. This one is the first of those books and while I'd love to start it, I think I'd like to at least read the first book set in England with Jeeves before I go on to this one. It was on sale so I went ahead and got it though. 

Crouchback: The Welsh Guard Mysteries, Volume 1 by Sarah Woodbury

 

Publication Date:

November 14, 2019

Genre:  

Historical Fiction/Adventure

Length:   

331 pages 

Series: The Welsh Guard Mysteries

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

April 1284. As a newly widowed lady-in-waiting to the very pregnant Queen Eleanor of England, Catrin never expected to return to Wales again. She was definitely unprepared to be confronted with murder when she got there--or to find herself face-to-face with Rhys, the childhood friend she lost twenty years before. Rhys had never intended to return home either, but a lifetime of war has deposited him right back where he started--impoverished and owing service to Catrin's older brother.

With Wales having fallen irrevocably to England, and fearful of trusting anyone within the English court of King Edward, Catrin and Rhys join forces against the treachery and intrigue rife within the half-built Caernarfon Castle. And when the murderer strikes again, the task before them becomes increasingly clear: catch the killer, certainly, but also protect their people from a future that is becoming more dangerous and uncertain with every day that passes.
Crouchback is the first book in The Welsh Guard Mysteries.

My Thoughts

I've had this book in my Kindle for awhile and just forgot. I have so many mysteries it just got overlooked. But when I went back and read the description it sounded interesting and original, and I love all things with Wales as the setting. The characters also being placed during the reign of Edward ! made it especially appealing to me. I'm trying to learn more about this time period already.

The mystery is well veiled and is a good story. So is the history the author weaves into the book. I learned a lot about how the Welsh must have felt having been conquered and subdued by King Edward at this point. Rhys and Catrin being a part of both worlds was a good way to let the reader in on the authentic conflict going on at the time: bow to reality and practicality to stay alive and acknowledge England as the ruling force or fight back and end up in misery and fear but with your conscience intact concerning your loyalty to your homeland. This is the running theme throughout the story as the pair seek to find out who is killing and leaving mysterious signs of a possible cult on the bodies or somewhere nearby. I also learned the true meaning of "Crouchback." This is the symbol for someone who has been on Crusade.

Can't Wait Wednesday: Murder On a Scottish Island by Lydia Travers (Lady Poppy Proudfoot Book Two)

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, Murder On a Scottish Island by Lydia Travers. I have been given an ARC of this book and am currently reading it. The first one was really cute and a lot of fun. This is my cozy mystery between longer reads. Travers has another Scottish series called the Scottish Ladies Detective Agency mysteries and I've read the first one. The ladies made an appearance in book one of the Poppy Proudfoot mystery and I'm thinking they might again in this one. So far I'm liking it a lot! 

I hope you've found something you can't wait to read this week. Happy reading ya'll!

Cozy Historical Mysteries

 

September 8, 2025

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

Scotland, 1924: When Lady Poppy Proudfoot is invited to her friend’s hotel on the Isle of Skye, she is looking forward to a holiday. But all thoughts of relaxing vanish when she discovers the body of a strangled woman in a church.

The police believe the widow’s death was a robbery gone wrong, as a pendant was stolen from the scene. But Poppy is sure it’s murder. Ignoring the police’s warnings to keep her nose out, she enlists her friend Inspector MacKenzie, and her loyal Labrador, Major, to unpick the case.

Poppy suspects one of the hotel’s guests knows more about the murder than they are willing to admit. Could it be Miss Buccleugh, the avid button collector? Or the travelling guru, who conveniently disappeared just after the murder? Or was it Mr Henderson, so desperate for money he was driven to murder?

When Poppy sees the victim’s sapphire pendant on the neck of another guest, she is convinced the killer is targeting widows in the hotel, and luring them in with jewellery. But to prove her theory, she will have to offer herself up as bait. It’s risky, but her only way of catching the killer… Can Poppy con a con-man, and make it out alive? Or will she be the next wealthy widow on the killer’s list?

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

 

Publication Date:

November 24, 2009

Genre:  Historical Fiction/Adventure

Length:   312 pages 

Series: Standalone book

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

Jamaica in 1665 is a rough outpost of the English crown, a minor colony holding out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, Jamaica′s capital, a cut-throat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses, is devoid of London′s luxuries; life here can end swiftly with dysentery or a dagger in your back. But for Captain Charles Hunter it is a life that can also lead to riches, if he abides by the island′s code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking. And law in the New World is made by those who take it into their hands.

Word in port is that the Spanish treasure galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is stalled in nearby Matanceros harbor awaiting repairs. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish outpost is guarded by the blood-swiller Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV himself. With the governor′s backing, Hunter assembles a roughneck crew to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloody legends of Matanceros suggest, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he finds himself on the island′s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry are all that stand between him and the treasure.

With the help of his cunning crew, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But his troubles have just begun. 

My Thoughts

When I end the school year in May my mind automatically turns to all things beach! I want to go on a cruise, sit in the sand and sun and I also love reading about all things beach and pirates. Another blogger reviewed this book and I remembered how I'd started it years ago and never finished it. So when my mind shifted to "summer mode" I knew I wanted to go back and read it and review it. I had NO idea it was based on a real story and real person. When I found out I was shocked and pleased because I love books even more when they are about real historical people. 

I loved the way the author switched between Jamaica and the things going on with the Governor and the aristocracy and the pirates. The crew assembled to retrieve the Spanish treasure was an assortment of interesting characters, some real and some fictional. I thought the pacing of the story was done well in that it moved along quickly but also had enough time to elaborate on suspense and the voyage itself. Yes, I agree there was every imaginable "trope" you'd find as in a movie or show like Black Sails but I really thought it all fit together well. You had the female pirate whom everyone fears, the female captive who needs rescuing, the threat of hurricanes and Krakens, etc. But somehow it made the story fun! No I don't believe this all happened and it is fiction after all, but it was well written and I learned a lot about just how they would have attacked a ship twice their size with a much larger crew, not to mention how they pulled off the actual seizing of the treasure from Matanceros. 

Having read some of Crichton's other works a long time ago, I get how those who love him thought this was an extreme departure of his writing style. Maybe so, but this was a great adventure and I loved it. If you like pirates, treasure hunting, suspenseful battle scenes, and a main character who is flawed but you also find yourself rooting for, you will enjoy this book. I honestly wish he'd written another one in this setting with another pirate adventure. The author's note at the end telling what happened to the real characters is fascinating and made me want to delve into the real life of Captain Charles Hunter. Great summer read here!