I’ve been a fan of Simone St. James since reading her 2012 release, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, and eagerly anticipate each new release. Lost Among the Living lived up to my anticipation, offering the mix of historical mystery, romance, and ghosts I’ve come to expect and enjoy. While it’s not my favorite of her…
It was the fly that got to him. In the misty light of early morning, the dead woman looked as if she might be sleeping, her dusky lashes resting against cheeks of pale eggshell, her lips faintly parted. She lay at the edge of a clover-strewn meadow near the river, the back of her head…
I fully admit – I’m not the biggest fan of mystery novels. When I saw that Murder on the Last Frontier was set in Alaska, I was curious. When I saw the amateur detective was a woman in 1919, I decided to give it a shot. When I finally read the blurb for the book,…
I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out where The Secret Life of Anna Blanc fits into the genres. And the thing is, it doesn’t. Not really. It’s one part historical mystery, one part historical fiction, one part chick-lit (kinda), and all dusted with just a dash of romance. It’s a coming…
Deadly Peril, the third of Lucinda Brant’s Georgian era Alec Halsey Mysteries, is possibly the best yet. And that’s saying something, because the preceding books – Deadly Engagement and Deadly Affair are both excellent, engrossing reads boasting tightly written, well thought-out plots, a colourful and strongly drawn cast of characters, a bitter-sweet romance and, of…
I admit it. When I saw that Deanna Raybourn was going to be writing another series of mysteries set in the Victorian era featuring an independently-minded female protagonist, my initial thought was – “how are these books going to be different to the Lady Julia ones?” But I enjoyed both those and the author’s recent…
This was my first book by Simone St. James, but will definitely not be my last. The Other Side of Midnight was a refreshing tale of intrigue and suspense set in the unusual era of post WWI England. I love romantic suspense as well as historical fiction, and while I have read a few authors…
This is the fourth book in Anna Lee Huber’s series of historical mysteries featuring Lady Keira Derby and her gorgeous but enigmatic partner-in-investigation, Sebastian Gage. At the end of A Grave Matter (the previous book in this series) readers were at last treated to the thing that many of us have been waiting for since…
The latest trend in mystery novels seems to be a writing device I call “land them in the middle”. When done well this can mean the reader enters the tale just as things are really starting to happen, which increases the action factor and keeps the pace of the story brisk. Many times however I…
When Lady Julia Fieldhurst is banished by her late husband’s family (along with her three nephews), she wasn’t expecting to stumble upon a body on the beach. Luckily, the body in question survives, but this leads to a new conundrum – is this truly the long lost daughter of the local Laird? Or is she…