Special Feature: A Promise Given (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #3) by Michelle Cox

March is the time when I, like many of my readers, start looking for books to read for summer. My summer reading TBR list grows daily so I wanted to get the word out about a couple of upcoming new releases!

The latest book in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series is out on April 24th! I couldn’t fit it into my review schedule but you can see my thoughts on the first book here. This time it looks like Henrietta and Inspector Howard will be traveling to England so it will likely be a very different feel than some of the others books! So be sure to put this one on your spring/summer reading radar!

Anxious to be married, Henrietta and Clive push forward with their wedding plans despite their family differences, made worse now by Oldrich Exley’s attempts to control the Von Harmons. When the long-awaited wedding day arrives, there is more unfolding than just Clive and Henrietta’s vows of love. Stanley and Elsie’s relationship is sorely tested by the presence of the dashing Lieutenant Harrison Barnes-Smith and by Henrietta’s friend Rose—a situation that grows increasingly dark and confused as time goes on.

As Clive and Henrietta begin their honeymoon at Castle Linley, the Howards’ ancestral estate in England, they encounter a whole new host of characters, including the eccentric Lord and Lady Linley and Clive’s mysterious cousin, Wallace. When a man is murdered in the village on the night of a house party at the Castle, Wallace comes under suspicion—and Clive and Henrietta are reluctantly drawn into the case, despite Clive’s anxiety at involving his new bride and Henrietta’s distracting news from home.

Delicately attempting to work together for the first time, Clive and Henrietta set out to prove Wallace’s innocence, uncovering as they do so some rather shocking truths that will shake the Linley name and estate forever (summary from Goodreads). Continue reading “Special Feature: A Promise Given (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #3) by Michelle Cox”

Review: The Italian Party by Christina Lynch

Sometimes I feel adventurous and I read books outside of my traditional review genres. I do this for a couple of reasons……sometimes its for my own pleasure, meaning something sounded interesting.

Other times it’s for my readers (and me too) so they are exposed to other books besides the normal preference. Then there are times when I’ve been deep in my usual review genre that I just need a break.

That’s what happened with this book. I had been reading so many historical mysteries and cozies that I felt like I needed something different with a little more meat.

Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany’s famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of ltaly, America and each other. Continue reading “Review: The Italian Party by Christina Lynch”

Review: Death of an Unsung Hero (Lady Montfort Mystery #4) by Tessa Arlen

I’ve had the pleasure of reading all but one of the books in the Lady Montford Mystery series and they have all been wonderful reads. I love watching how Arlen’s writing has evolved over the series so far and this book was such a pleasure to read!

This book really stood out to me as the best in the series thus far though. Maybe it’s my love of WWI that really made this one stand out or maybe it was seeing the progression of Lady Montford and seeing her family, but either way this was a lovely read and I loved it on many levels!

In 1916, the world is at war and the energetic Lady Montfort has persuaded her husband to offer the dower house to the War Office as an auxiliary hospital for officers recovering from shell-shock with their redoubtable housekeeper Mrs. Jackson contributing to the war effort as the hospital’s quartermaster. Continue reading “Review: Death of an Unsung Hero (Lady Montfort Mystery #4) by Tessa Arlen”

Special Feature: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen

Lady Helena Investigates
by Jane Steen

Publication Date: March 14, 2018
Aspidistra Press
eBook; 359 Pages
ASIN: B079SMGC7S

Series: Scott-De Quincy Mysteries, Book One
Genre: Historical Mystery

 

 

A reluctant lady sleuth finds she’s investigating her own family.

Step into Lady Helena Whitcombe’s world with the first novel in a series that will blend family saga and mystery-driven action with a slow-burn romance in seven unputdownable investigations.

1881, Sussex. Lady Helena Scott-De Quincy’s marriage to Sir Justin Whitcombe, three years before, gave new purpose to a life almost destroyed by the death of Lady Helena’s first love. After all, shouldn’t the preoccupations of a wife and hostess be sufficient to fulfill any aristocratic female’s dreams? Such a shame their union wasn’t blessed by children . . . but Lady Helena is content with her quiet country life until Sir Justin is found dead in the river overlooked by their grand baroque mansion.

The intrusion of attractive, mysterious French physician Armand Fortier, with his meddling theory of murder, into Lady Helena’s first weeks of mourning is bad enough. But with her initial ineffective efforts at investigation and her attempts to revive her long-abandoned interest in herbalism comes the realization that she may have been mistaken about her own family’s past. Every family has its secrets—but as this absorbing series will reveal, the Scott-De Quincy family has more than most.

Can Lady Helena survive bereavement the second time around? Can she stand up to her six siblings’ assumption of the right to control her new life as a widow? And what role will Fortier—who, as a physician, is a most unsuitable companion for an earl’s daughter—play in her investigations?

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Continue reading “Special Feature: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen”

Review: Death by Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery #1) by Vivien Chien

I love getting in on a new mystery series from the ground up. This book was not only a new series but it also had an intriguing title…..a noodle shop mystery??? Yes please!

When I first saw that cover I was totally sold. Not only did it sound like an interesting read but I also immediately wanted Chinese take out to commemorate the reading of this book!

Welcome to the Ho-Lee Noodle House, where the Chinese food is to die for. . .

The last place Lana Lee thought she would ever end up is back at her family’s restaurant. But after a brutal break-up and a dramatic workplace walk-out, she figures that a return to the Cleveland area to help wait tables is her best option for putting her life back together. Even if that means having to put up with her mother, who is dead-set on finding her a husband. Continue reading “Review: Death by Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery #1) by Vivien Chien”