Tag: Historic Fiction

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Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig

by The Lit Bitch11 Comments on Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig

Tis the season for purloined pudding! Christmas pudding, bonnets, love, and mystery are all literary in the air in Lauren Willig’s book The Mischief of the Mistletoe. This book is #4.2 in Willig’s wildly popular Pink Carnation series.

I saw this book advertised on Goodreads a few weeks ago and fell in love with the cover and….suddenly I had to read it! So I picked up a copy and then I saw the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by  the True Book Addict and suddenly I couldn’t wait for it to be Christmas season so I could read this book! Biding my time, I started the book the day the challenge started and finished the book like 2 days later!

I have never read any of these books but heard LOADS about them from friends and of course my sister. I have always wondered why I hadn’t read any of them because they seem like books I would devour! I supposed somewhere between all the epic series I have ben reading over the last couple of years….I guess I just missed this one, and that my friends is my biggest regret! This is a charming, enchanting, and above all….a captivating series. Continue reading “Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig” →

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Review: The Devil’s Ribbon (Hatton and Roumonde Mystery #2) by D. E. Meredith

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Devil’s Ribbon (Hatton and Roumonde Mystery #2) by D. E. Meredith

Green, the symbol of Irish pride and a symbol of Irish rebellion–this is what forensic scientist and doctor Adolphus Hatton is thinking when he pulls a green ribbon from the mouth of cadaver.

In D.E. Meredith’s latest thriller, The Devil’s Ribbon, London is a pressure cooker….the searing July heat of 1858, the wretched stink of the Themes, deadly diseases lurking in every inch of filth from Highgate to the Rookeries of  the East End, and….feuding Irish and British tensions are at their breaking point. Hatton and his assistant Albert Roumande, are knee deep in a spike of cholera deaths when Inspector Grey of Scotland Yard approaches them with a curious case….a predominant leader in Irish/British relations is found dead and murder is suspected.

When Hatton and Roumande examine the body they find that is jaw just isn’t ‘quite right’ and once opened they pull out a silky green ribbon. Grey knows exactly what this means….its a message from the Fenian groups–a band of Irish revolutionary thugs and terrorists. If word of this kind of execution reaches the public, the London press will have a field day and it will only increase the mounting tensions between the Irish and Brits….these three unlikely companions join forces to try and catch the killer before it is too late.

Though Hatton and Roumande have the new forensic science on their side, the killer or killers are always one step a head of them. The body counts rise and with each victim comes a calling card–the green ribbon. Riots being raging in the slums as word of the murder spread and the pressure is on Grey and the two scientists to solve the crimes….after a strategic bomb rips through a popular London shopping district the Irish communities in London’s slum claim responsibility….Hatton must solve this one and quickly. Continue reading “Review: The Devil’s Ribbon (Hatton and Roumonde Mystery #2) by D. E. Meredith” →

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Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd

Hold on to your bonnets, there’s been a Murder at Mansfield Park! In this charming Jane Austen spin off, author Lynne Shepherd takes a classic English novel and turns it into a classic ‘who done it’.

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park is the only Austen novel I have not read ironically, for some reason it just never appealed to me. Everyone says that Fanny Price is the worse Austen heroine ever, though I cannot claim my own opinion of the original Fanny Price, I can say with confidence I didn’t care for the Shepherd version of Price in this book which was the obvious point of her novel.

I’ve only read a few other Jane Austen ‘spin offs’ but none like this. Most of the spin off books are more of an extension of the original story, (largely in the romance category) such as Mr Darcy Takes a Wife….some are more eccentric parodies such as Pride  and Prejudice and Zombies…..but over all most of the spin offs are alike, which was the main reason why this particular book caught my eye….a Jane Austen murder mystery? What could be better, it brilliant and not been done before!

Shepherd and I follow each other on Twitter and when I went on to accept her follow request, I was intrigued by what I saw. It sounded like such a fresh take on an old classic…..I was so happy that I started reading it first and just in time the Halloween season! Continue reading “Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd” →

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Review: The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries #3) by Charles Finch

by The Lit Bitch6 Comments on Review: The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries #3) by Charles Finch

I can feel fall in the air which means it’s time for another mystery book! This time I read the next book in the Charles Lenox mystery series, The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch.

I started reading the Lenox series as part of the Historic Fiction Reading Challenge.

When I started the series, I didn’t really know what to expect…I had heard mixed reviews about it. But after finishing the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, I was pretty much hooked. I guess we can still consider this book part of the Historic Fiction Reading Challenge though it’s technically ‘over’ for me, my goal was to read just two Historic Fiction Books which I have gone WELL ABOVE so I guess technically this counts 🙂

What I like about the series is that it is consistently good….you know how some book series start good but then can’t keep up the momentum or some of the installments are good while others just aren’t…this book series IS NOT like that.

As I have said before, the series is simple and at time predictable but that is also what makes it a quick, easy read. It’s not overly complicated and not overly involved with tons of plot twists…it’s easy to follow and a good ‘mental’ break from other complicated mystery plots. I have read other reviews about this book and the series…overall most say the same things, it’s good but not complicated. I’m sorry but sometimes one just needs to read something fun and uncomplicated. As I have also said before though, the same things that I love about this series are the same things that I don’t like about the series….double edged sword to be uncomplicated I guess. Continue reading “Review: The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries #3) by Charles Finch” →

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Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (The Mary Russell #1) by Laurie R. King

by The Lit Bitch10 Comments on Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (The Mary Russell #1) by Laurie R. King

I desperately needed something fun and easy to read….and this time of year I just love a good mystery….something about the turning leaves and the cool, slightly foggy mornings….geese flying south for the winter, the pumpkins ripening….I just love fall and always associate mysteries as the season’s preferred genre….maybe it’s the spirit Halloween (incidentally that is my fav holiday as well)!

I just finished reading The September Society by Charles Finch and was hungry for another mystery but was waiting for my mom to give me back my copy of the next book in the series (The Fleet Street Murders) that I plan on reading next. So I was stuck wondering what to read.

My sister and I went to this great used bookstore in my hometown a few weeks ago and she suggested that I read this series called the Mary Russell series, the first book being The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R King. The bookstore had it in stock so I bought it, took it home, put it on my shelf, and kind of forgot about it.

As I was browsing through for something to read the bright yellow honeycomb cover totally stood out so I grabbed it and started reading….my only regrets were that I didn’t pick this book up MONTHS ago and didn’t buy the next book in the series (because of course they don’t have the book in stock anymore! I was so upset that I had to ‘bookmark it’ every night so I could actually get up for work the next day….I was DYING to get home and start reading it again. Continue reading “Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (The Mary Russell #1) by Laurie R. King” →