So This Is Christmas by Kay Bratt

 

My thoughts

This book was even better than the last. Each seems to get better. 

The Hart's Ridge series is so good. Each book has a mystery wrapped around a true to life crime. Also more about the Gray family and all that entails. 

Taylor just had her baby and is home on leave from her job while recuperating from almost dying and from having her daughter. Sam, her husband, insists on her doing nothing that relates to her job as a deputy. She needs no stress. Of course that is not easy for Taylor.

As you get to know each of the Grays you also read about a horrific murder. A family who were shot and killed on Christmas Eve. Who would do such a horrible thing to this very nice and loving family. 

This book kept me turning the pages and wanting more. It held me captive until the last sentence. Kay weaves enough of a real life crime into the story that you keep trying to figure out who did it. Who the killer or killers were. I had my suspicions and was half right. 

There is also a bit of mental illness in this story. Of course with such a horrific murder I believe the killer suffered deeply from a mental illness but this was about Taylor's sister. Lucy has so many problems and you hear from her again in this story. Her problems seem to escalate until she just can't deal. Taylor of course wants to fix it but this time she can't. 

I was so happy to read the part about Lydia and Caleb after her return. That is from the book Hello Little Girl. Lydia had been kidnapped and held for a long time. I wondered what became of them and was so happy that Kay added this part in the ending. Maybe an upcoming book about them??

I love this series and hope it can continue for a while. There are a few characters that I'd like to hear more about.

Another winner. Five big stars.

About

The quaint town of Hart's Ridge glistens with holiday magic each Christmas, as festive lights and holiday attractions draw visitors to its charming streets. This year, Deputy Taylor Gray is enjoying a quieter holiday at home, fully embracing her new role in the midst of family festivities.

But peace and goodwill are shattered on Christmas Eve when four bodies are discovered and two children are left as orphans. Taylor finds herself walking a fine line between her desire to please her husband, Sam, who insists she stay out of the investigation, and her passion for keeping the town safe. As she navigates her restrictions, she must find a way to contribute without jeopardizing her promise to Sam.

“So This Is Christmas” is book eleven of the bestselling Hart's Ridge small-town mystery series, written by Kay Bratt, million-copy best-selling author.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

 

My thoughts

This is my first book by Marie Benedict. It was very enjoyable. 

The power of a group of females is pretty strong. Even when men would have stood in the way. 

My favorite line from this book is: "You saw what I wanted you to see and what you expected to see. Things are not always as they appear."

The main characters in this book are: Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Baroness Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. Five authors from 1931. Five female authors.

The five women decide to participate The Detection Club, an organization of mystery writers, primarily men. They are soon drawn into a real life murder. A young nurse who went missing and was found murdered and lying in a big pool of blood. These women decide to find out exactly what happened to her. Though the papers have made this woman to look like a loose women with a drug problem the Queens of Crime do not believe that. They are about to embark on a journey to find the killer and prove this young woman's fate.

What happens is a rivitating story of females on the hunt for the truth. For justice. For women to be listened to. They are determined to show that May Daniels was murdered and that it had nothing to do with a drug deal. It was from a lover who didn't want her to reveal any secrets.

This book keeps you wanting to know more and guessing along the way. It's a great mystery. Most of the characters are so likable and the history in it is great. Well written. A real page turner. I enjoyed it from start to finish. There are several things that happen to keep you on edge.

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress, #MacmillanAudio, for this ARC. 

4 stars.

About

The New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women.

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

 

My thoughts

This is my first book by this author. I look forward to reading more.

This book was slow to start for me but it did pick up and the ending was great. The author definitely wrapped it up great. 

A murder was committed in 1979 in a small town in Iceland. A woman and her baby girl. The baby was frozen and the mother's throat was slit. Everyone suspected the husband did it. He took their son and left. 

In 2019 Agnes goes to Iceland to meet a podcaster, Nora, who is investigating the deaths of Agnes's grandmother and aunt all those years ago. A girl has gone missing and of course there has been a search for her now. The house that Agnes's grandfather and father lived in has become a place for people to hang out and gawk about what happened back in 1979. That is where the other girl went missing from too. 

You get a lot with this story. A murder or two. A missing young woman. A drug addiction. A kidnapping. You uncover the truth as you read but that last part is the best. When most of the actual action and the reveal happens. 

The setting of this story is great and the timeframes. It goes back to what happened in 1979 only a few times to keep you knowing what happened and then who did it. You meet several of the townspeople and most are very likable. This book was good but not great. I do say it's worth reading, You may love it more than I did. I did like it. It kept me guessing for sure. Parts kept me on edge too. I believe it was well written. It was a quick read for me. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress, #MacmillanAudio, for this ARC. This is my true thoughts about this book. 

3 stars

About

In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

 

My thoughts

This is the second book in the Kat and Lock series. Jo Callaghan has created very likable characters with these two. One is a female DI and the other is an AI who they are trying to use in the course of investigations. 

In this book Kat and Lock are looking for a suspect who has hung a man on a cross and removed his ears. Who would do such a thing. His fiance possibly? Maybe his best friend? Or is something much more sinister at play?

When Kat gets the call about a man being found hung on a cross she immediately starts trying to figure out what happened and why it happened. Before it happens again. In four days it does happen though. Her boss of course doubts her ability to solve the case but she doesn't give up. Kat has a wonderful team and they are all working overtime to solve these murders. 

A reporter is letting people know things before Kat can get a handle on things. Kat wants this solved before another murder can happen. Her partner, the AI, is working with her by looking at videos and reading everything as fast as he can. 

I have to say that this was an excellent book. A first rate follow of the first book, In The Blink of An Eye. You get to know more about each character and how they work. How well they all get along. While I did figure out who the killer was and why it certainly did not take away from the story. Not in the least. I was on the edge of my seat when things came to a head and Lock(AI) was talking to the murderer. And at a few other times I found myself holding my breath. I also cried a few times. This book was so good but also needs to come with a trigger warning for sure. It contains talk of a rape, a drug induced rape. Date rape drug use and other things. But it's still a wonderful book and well written.

This author has a series here that I believe will keep getting better and better. I'm looking forward to the next installment already. 

Be sure and read the Acknowledgments at the end as it contains some info. My heart goes out to this author and her family. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #RandomHousePublishing, for this ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of a hill in the British midlands, AIDE Lock—the world’s first AI Detective—and Detective Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case. When a second body is found the police issue an extraordinary warning to local males aged between 30 and 40 years old:

• Avoid drinking in pubs
• If you must go to a pub, do not leave alone
• And definitely do not leave a pub with a stranger

With the national media and local men in an uproar, Kat and Lock have to combine their instincts and algorithms to catch the killer before they can strike again.

 

A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher

 

My thoughts

I am fast becoming a huge fan of T. Kingfisher. This book was great. I've been reading a lot of books about witches and fantasy and such. This one is about a sorceress so pretty much along the same lines of genres. 

When Evangeline wants something she usually gets it. No matter who or what she has to hurt. Including her daughter Cordelia. Evangeline is a sorceress. Only her daughter knows this. When she hurts people Cordelia can't stand it. She wants her to stop.

Evangeline and Cordelia are staying with a good man and his sister. Evangeline has decided she wants to marry him and wants Cordelia to marry a much older and very wealthy man. Things start to happen and Cordelia decides it's time to confide in someone and put a stop to her mother's evil ways. But can she? Can Evangeline be stopped. Who will suffer if all fails. What exactly will it take to bring down this evil sorceress?

This book is part fantasy, part horror, part thriller and a big part of good vs evil. I could not put it down. It had me from the first page and didn't let go until the perfect ending. The characters were all likeable with the exception of Evangeline. Cordelia was very timid but she could be forceful at times. The rest were great. And they believed Cordelia...

This was a BOTM add on for me. Excellent read.

About

A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer

 

My thoughts

I loved this book. It was such a good story about witches, powers, and a witch hunter. It had all the feels and all the things I love in a good book. I laughed in places and cried in others. I rooted for the three witches to prevail. This author did a fantastic job of capturing my attention and keeping it until the very last word. 

Dora lives with her aunt in London and owns a flower shop. She loves flowers and does good with this shop. When a stranger comes in and says he is looking for something for his deceased girlfriend little does Dora know that her life is about to change. And quickly.

Dora and Lenny leave London to go back to Salem, MA. Dora has no idea what she's in for when they get there. Or the secrets that will be revealed to her. Lenny, Sephy, and Lucine are sisters. All are witches who have lived many lifetimes. Over and over. Dora has lived many lifetimes also but does not remember it. These women have been cursed with living their lives over and over. Seeing each other die and grieving. It's time to put a stop to it.

Told from different timelines and filled with magic. A curse was cast on the women and on a couple of men. They live forever, over and over again. You can feel the tension and the laughter both. The love of this family of witches. The hate from the witch hunter. The love of one man for one woman. The power of setting things right. I loved reading this book. It was such a good one. Each character was lovable, except Corwin that is. When Dora realizes that one of her "aunts" is really her mother she has mixed emotions. Anger of course for being lied to. But also excitement for getting to see her mother again. 

What was done to women back in the 1600s was horrible. Being accused of witchcraft and killed. If you crossed a man he could call you a witch and have you taken. Have you hanged. You get a feel for what happened to the English sisters. What the people in this town did to them. 

I loved it. The dual timelines were perfect. The different points of view were great. This book was just the best. So enjoyable.

Thank you #NetGalley, #Bookouture, #bookoutureaudio, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five stars.

About

‘Every story needs a happy ending. And you can’t have yours until you find the bookstore.’

1692. On the outskirts of Salem, a bookstore stands covered in overgrown vines. Inside, a young woman hides a linen-wrapped journal under a loose floorboard and runs away, panicked by the sound of hounds barking in the distance. The bookstore vanishes into thin air…

Present day. Stepping inside a pale-pink house on one of the oldest streets in Salem, Dora can’t believe she’s about to finally meet the mother she thought died tragically when she was just a child. But the excitement is short-lived. Dora’s mother has fear in her eyes, and with a trembling voice she ‘my life is in danger, and now so is yours…’

Desperate not to lose her mother all over again, Dora digs into her family’s mysterious past, and stumbles upon a seemingly impossible the key to their survival is hidden in a bookstore that no one has seen for generations.

Losing herself amongst thorny brackens and twisted ferns, Dora eventually finds the path that leads to the bookstore. But someone is watching her. They’ve been waiting for her.

As she pushes open the beautiful blue door hidden amongst the sharp brambles, and stands in front of rows of crumbling leatherbound books with faded pages, she has no idea of the secrets she is about to uncover. Or that her life is in more danger than ever before…

The Last Fashion House in Paris by Renee Ryan

 

My thoughts

An excellent book about what happened in Paris, France during WW2. A story of hope and survival. Of betrayal and loss. The things that happen when you fall in love with the wrong person. Or even the right one. This is a story of one young woman's journey to forgiveness. And a story of three strong women who helped so many during a horrible time in history...

This book is told from three women's povs. A young lady, Paulette, who did a terrible thing and caused her mother to be sent away. Possibly to a Jewish concentration camp. How Paulette was sent to Paris to work in a fashion house owned by a dear friend of her mother's and make amends for what she did. To find self forgiveness. Paulette worked hard. She learned so much. She helped many.

Nicolle also worked in the same fashion house. She also worked for the resistance helping wounded soldiers get to safety. And she helped get Jewish people out of the country and to safe places. Nicolle had lost her husband in the war and was doing all she could to help as many others as she could. 

Sabine owned the fashion house. She was the one who designed the beautiful dresses and suits. Made sure they fit to perfection. She also helped get people to safety. Though she did it through Nicolle and others. She worked tirelessly to make sure things ran smoothly. Sabine had lost her daughter and was determined to never lose any one else. 

This book gives you a look at how things happened in Paris, in the fashion world. When the Nazi's invaded and when some of the people in Paris turned against the Jews. How they were gathered up and sent away. Not knowing what was going to happen. It's a very emotional story of how three women worked to help others. Each for their own reasons but together for the good of humanity. Throw in a bit of a love story and you have a book that you can't put down.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #HarleqinTrade, #LoveinspiredTrade, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book. 

Five big stars.

About

In the heart of occupied WWII Paris, an elegant fashion house is the unlikely headquarters of a daring resistance network. Behind closed doors, courageous women vie to save loved ones and strangers alike from the Nazis in this powerful story of survival, friendship and second chances.

France, 1942

Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping and drawing elegant dresses in her sketch pad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard.

But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house. While seamstresses create the perfect couture gowns, clandestine deals and secrets take place out of sight. Mademoiselle Ballard is head of a vast network of resistance fighters—including Paulette’s coworker and friend Nicolle Cadieux—who help escort downed military men and Jewish families to safety.

Soon Paulette is recruited as a spy. Working as a seamstress by day, gathering information at glamorous parties by night, Paulette at last has a chance to earn the redemption she craves. But as the SS closes in and Nicolle goes missing, Paulette must make life-and-death decisions about who to trust, who to love and who to leave behind…