Steph Warren - Bookshine posted: " First a quick explanation! Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it bac" Bookshine And Readbows
Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it back on track.
In an attempt to try to regain some lost ground, I have been scrunching some of my (overdue) NetGalley reviews together into one or two posts each week: shorter reviews, but still covering all of the points I intended to.
That's the plan anyway, so let's ring in the new reading year with a new selection from my back-shelves...!
Title: The Isolated Séance Author: Jeri Westerson Publisher:Severn House
Blurb: The first in a gripping new Victorian mystery series set in London from critically acclaimed author Jeri Westerson.
Watch out, Sherlock! Introducing one-time Baker Street Irregular Timothy Badger and his partner-in-crime Benjamin Watson, two exciting and unconventional young consulting detectives, mentored by the great man himself, tackling intriguing and unusual cases in Victorian London with endearing verve and wit.
Sherlock Holmes's protégés Tim Badger and Benjamin Watson are catapulted into a tricky first case when a man is brutally murdered during a séance.
London, 1895. Former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger is determined to follow in the footsteps of his great mentor, Sherlock Holmes, by opening his own consulting detective agency with his partner, Benjamin Watson. The intrepid duo are ready to make a name for themselves . . . if only they had clients!
Their luck changes when Sherlock recommends his protégés to Thomas Brent. Brent is eager to find out who killed his master, Horace Quinn, during a séance at Quinn's house. What was Quinn desperately trying to find out from his deceased business partner, Stephen Latimer, before he was stabbed through the heart?
It seems that everyone in Quinn's household had a reason to want him dead. Can Tim and Benjamin step out of Sherlock's shadow to navigate dark secrets and unexpected dangers in their pursuit of a cold-blooded killer?
Review: This is an original story, taking the familiar world of Sherlock Holmes and Baker Street but focusing on some new characters – ex Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger and his associate Ben Watson – as they set up their own (mostly) independent detective agency and begin with an investigation into a stabbing at a séance. With a little help and interference behind the scenes from a familiar master of disguise and detection!
There is some humour in the way that the two amateur sleuths attempt to emulate their mentor's methods, often unsuccessfully. And there is plenty of romance potential too, with a certain irrepressible reporter and a somewhat intractable housemaid who respectively catch the main characters' eyes. In fact, to some extent the mystery took a back seat to the establishment of the agency and their extra-curricular shenanigans!
While a little unevenly paced at times, with some dialogue that felt a little stilted occasionally (would everyone really monologue eloquently about their individual social struggles?), this is a fun first book in a series that shows good potential for ongoing adventures and is bound to appeal to Holmesian mystery fans looking for a new twist on an old favourite.
Title: Mortal Follies Author: Alexis Hall Publisher:Orion Publishing Group, Gollancz
Blurb: "You have one chance," said the voice of the goddess...
It is the year 1814 and Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into the highest society of Bath hindered by an irritating curse.
It begins innocuously enough, with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at the ball of the season, a scandal she only narrowly manages to escape.
However, as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, she realises she must seek out urgent assistance, even if that means mixing with the most undesirable company - and there are few less desirable allies than the brooding Lady Georgiana Landrake - who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune.
If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress.
Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs.
A devilishly funny and heartwarming sapphic Regency romantasy from bestselling author of Boyfriend Material Alexis Hall, Mortal Follies is unmissable for fans of Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven and Freya Marske's A Marvellous Light.
Review: I found this one a little tricky to get into at first, but quickly began to LOVE it, thanks mainly to the lovely characters and the amusing shenanigans forced on them by the socially embarrassing curse.
The characters reminded me of favourites like Amelia Peabody or Alexia Tarabotti (and Lizzie definitely reflected shades of Ivy Hisselpenny!), with the combination of witty banter, social constraints and chaotic adventures, which while loosely Regency-inspired, gives the book the feel of a lighthearted parody rather than historical fiction. Add in a bit of magic, a curse to be broken and a little sapphic love and this should be a surefire recipe for success.
The one element that didn't really work for me was the Puck-ish narrator, who made an interesting framing device and handy omniscient observer, but quickly became irritating as he constantly intruded unnecessarily on the plot, taking my attention from more engaging characters.
I would love to read more of this series, especially if it featured Maelys and her friends, Miss Bickley and John Caesar (Lizzie was my favourite!), but hopefully with less of the fae intrusion into their mortal follies.
Title: The Expectant Detectives Author: Kat Ailes Publisher:Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre
Blurb: They're about to solve the mother of all murders...
For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy Cotswold village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their unexpected first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she'll learn to make jam. But the rural idyll they'd hoped for doesn't quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local antenatal class and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice sets out to solve the mystery and clear her name, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.
Motherland meets Midsomer Murders in this fresh and funny mystery about a group of soon-to-be mums who turn detective when there's a murder at their antenatal class.
Review: This cosy mystery is written in a first-person snarky, flippant narrative voice which, in other stories and with other characters, I would usually find a bit try-hard and unfunny, but I immediately clicked with Alice and enjoyed her voice so much that I instantly added the upcoming sequel to my shopping basket on the strength of that one factor alone!
That said, the whole read was really good fun. The mystery is interesting but never takes itself too seriously and there are lots of relatable and amusing shenanigans around the trials of making friends as an adult, especially if you have a tendency to blurt out whatever goes through your head. In fact, it might just be one of the most realistic representations of adult friendship-building I have read, as despite having pregnancy and a murder investigation in common, Alice still finds communication with her new friends awkward and nerve-wracking, and struggles to find the balance between 'being herself' and scaring off potential pals with that self!
The mystery plot is well-written, if far-fetched, and definitely kept me guessing throughout, but it is the memorable characters that really shine here. I've already rhapsodised about Alice - witty and self-deprecating - but have to make an honourable mention here of Helen the dog too... my current favourite portrayal of canine companion in fiction, perfectly matching her owner's chaotic energy.
Title: Hokey Pokey Author: Kate Mascarenhas Publisher:Head of Zeus, Apollo
Blurb: A grand hotel, a famous opera star and a psychoanalyst with a hidden agenda. Kate Mascarenhas's third novel offers her readers a glamorous, thrilling ride through murder, madness and the darkest recesses of the mind.
February, 1929. The Regent Hotel in Birmingham is a place of deception and glamour. Behind its six-storeyed façade, guests sip absinthe cocktails on velvet banquettes, while the hotel's red-jacketed staff scurry through its lavish corridors to ensure the finest service is always at hand.
In the early evening, a psychoanalyst checks in under a pseudonym: Nora Dickinson. Nora is young, diligent and ambitious. Though she doesn't see herself as a liar, she is travelling with an agenda. Having followed the famous opera singer, Berenice Oxbow, from Zurich to Birmingham, she's determined not to let her out of her sight.
But when a terrible snow storm isolates the hotel – and its guests – from the outside world, the lines between nightmare and reality begin to blur...
Review: As many others have noted, this book's cover and blurb present it as a Golden Age mystery, with Christie-esque characters gathered in an isolated hotel setting, and the opening chapters of the book seem to bear that out, but it is actually a far more surprising and unusual read than it first appears.
The reader quickly finds themselves facing legendary monsters, childhood trauma and possible mental illness, obsession and identity issues. It is a lot to process, especially through the narrative perspective of the traumatised and disturbed main character, who quickly loses herself in the darkness of her past and the claustrophobic confusion of current events.
I found the hyring mythology absolutely fascinating and utterly convincing - gory and haunting, like all of the best old-fashioned fairytales - and the book made for a good fantasy read on the strength of that world-building and Nora's personal history with it. The mystery aspect of the plot is slightly less important and soon lost among the dark exploration of mental illness, individual identity issues and the dangers of basing how we think of ourselves on others' perceptions.
A disturbing, enjoyable read, that took completely unexpected turns and left lingering traces in my psyche long afterwards.
Title: The Horror of Haglin House Author: M.R.C. Kasasian Publisher:Canelo
Blurb: Home is where the horror is…
Jilted thriller writer Lady Violet Thorn has withdrawn to the Suffolk market town of Montford with two servants and her leading character, the adventuress Ruby Gibson, for company.
Violet's peace is disturbed when a stranger asks her for help, claiming that a friend is being kept prisoner in her own home. Her visitor seems so afraid that Violet, despite her scepticism, is persuaded to investigate.
A woman is killed outside Violet's house, then another murdered in the town and, as the deaths mount up, she becomes convinced that they all lead to one place: the increasingly forbidding Haglin House, and whoever lives there…
M.R.C. Kasasian returns with a fresh, witty and totally enthralling take on the classic crime genre, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz, M. C. Beaton and Oscar De Muriel.
Review: This is such a tricky book to review because of the mixed emotions it invoked!
On the one hand, it is a really good, fun mystery story with really unique and memorable characters. I could honestly give it 5* on these basis alone! On the other hand, however, there were two distinct problems with the story that made it almost impossible to read until I got the hang of it.
Firstly, main character Violet's jilting is introduced at the very beginning, briefly mentioned throughout, then revisited at the end, but it never seems to relate to the main plot and just confused the introduction of the characters at the beginning of the book, making it more difficult to find the flow of the story at the start.
More importantly and with greater negative effect though, was that Violet is such an imaginative author that her characters constantly speak to her in her head. As in, she has two main characters of her own books (a female adventurer-detective and a fussy male deductive-detective) who comment on everything that happens during the plot, frequently intruding on both the action and the dialogue in a way that is both irritating and confusing for the reader and slows the plot for no real benefit. I actually loved the idea of this, but there is way too much of it here - less would have been more!
Despite these issues, once I got the hang of the writing style and characters (which took a few chapters), I really was hooked! Violet herself, and Friendless, Agnust and Gerrund (her 'servants') are all utterly brilliant and I could read endless books of their adventures together. The humour really made me laugh and the repeated twists to the story kept me guessing right up to the very end.
This really would be one of my favourite books, if it had been trimmed a little more for clarity's sake. I still want to read more though, and will be keeping an eye out for book 2!
Starting the year with a veil of mysteries (or should it be a crow of murders?!), which makes me happy as we're in one of my favourite genres.
This selection spans from Regency to contemporary times and dips into fantasy, romantasy, cosy, humour and horror sub-genres, along with a little traditional or classic crime.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I did and wish you all a very Happy New Year and happy reading! 🙂
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