Finished the first Cadfael book. Have heard of this series (of course) but never read any of the books. It was great! Will definitely pick up others in time – like when waiting on another series book to come out, or just nothing in the old TBR pile is sparking.  Apparently there are 20 books in this series, and everyone recommends reading them in order, so this is where you start.

Fantastic story, wonderfully written.  No wonder Brother Cadfael is one of the most popular historical mystery series, even spinning off a television series (I think).  I may need to track those down too.  

Within the first few pages of this first book of the series, I knew Brother Cadfael would be a character that I’d want to follow through many more stories.  

What I liked:
Peters captures what I suspect to be a lot of historical/ cultural nuances in simple, effective ways.  There’s a huge amount of research behind this, but we’re not drawn out into these huge sweeping encyclopedia entries in an attempt to build this distant time and place around the modern reader.  We jump straight in as a fly on the wall, watching and listening, wholly transported.  I also liked that the religious aspects of the story were handled in a sympathetic, but I think also very honest way.  The mystery itself wasn’t overly complicated, but that’s part of what made it ring true to me.

Brother Cadfael is also a very interesting character.  Peters obviously wrote this with an eye toward several more books, with many hints and winks at his colorful past.  

A big recommend from me if you’re into history, mystery, or even books like Game of Thrones.

Deftly blended, this combination of an alternate world history with an English country house mystery opens in 1949, but it’s not exactly the 1949 or England we know. Eight years earlier a group of conservative, anti-semitic politicians known as the “Farthing set” made peace with Nazi Germany, securing Britain’s borders after most of continental Europe had fallen to Hitler. The Germans continue to fight the Soviets, the American president is isolationist Charles Lindbergh, and the Jews left in Europe are living a nightmare.

Against this background, the aristocratic, politically powerful Farthing set comes together for a country weekend. The daughter of one of the couples, Lucy Kahn, is deeply in love and happily married to David, a Jewish man, so she’s surprised that her parents have invited them to join this gathering at her old family home. If it was up to her they’d skip it, she doesn’t like this group and they see her as a race traitor, but David thinks the invitation is a gesture of reconciliation so they go. But when they wake up the first morning they discover that a powerful politician has been murdered in his bed, and it quickly becomes clear that whoever did this is trying to frame David.

The story alternates between two very different voices. Lucy’s chapters chat to readers in the first person, while the point of view of Inspector Carmichael, sent by Scotland Yard to investigate the crime, is told through the third person. Carmichael is a principled, thoughtful man who has secrets of his own--he’s a homosexual. Though he’s working diligently to uncover the truth, he’s being pressured by his superiors to just arrest David and close the case.

Jo Walton’s versatility amazes me. The first books I read by her involved a simulation of Plato’s Republic, set up by the goddess Athena on the ancient island of Atlantis, but this is obviously a very different book, and she’s written it from two highly contrasting points of view. Tightly plotted, the tension builds quickly and continuously in Farthing, so by the time I was 80% in my heart was pounding and the book was impossible for me to put down. It’s the first book in a trilogy that I look forward to continuing once my adrenaline comes back down to normal levels.

Books one and two in this series were completely delightful. Getting to know Merry and be with her as she adjusts to life at Wynter Castle. But muffin . . . I mean, nothing prepared me for The Legion Of Horrible Ladies in DEATH OF AN ENGLISH MUFFIN. Fantastic! Merry had no idea what she was getting herself into when she rented rooms to that group of ladies.

Author Victoria Hamilton has really raised the bar with this installment of her Merry Muffin series. Extremely well written, as are all of Ms. Hamilton’s books, each and every chapter was a fun adventure I didn’t want to end. The mystery was tight and intriguing, leading up to a shocking, clever reveal that was inspired. 

This was definitely one of those books that when finished, I hoped the next book in my to be read stack could measure up.

For return readers, prepare yourself for the best installment yet. If you haven’t read this series yet, be assured, you can read DEATH OF AN ENGLISH MUFFIN and not feel lost. Author Hamilton did a great job in the beginning of getting readers caught up.

Be sure to check out the back of the book so you don’t miss out on some delicious recipes!

This fourth volume of Adrien English mysteries keeps up the tradition of the other three.  It's two years after the previous book and there's a good mystery, terrific characters and a couple of interesting and important side plots.  There's Adrien's mom, his step-sisters, his step father and there's Guy and yes... there's Jake.  *sigh*  

I cannot begin to tell you the antipathy I feel towards Jake.  I don't want him with Adrien and I don't believe he's good for Adrien and I detest the way he talks and treats Adrien.  I find myself wanting to shake the hell out of Adrien every time he gets personal with freakin' Jake.  I understand conflict and disagreements and somehow insurmountable hurdles in a relationship, but in my mind, there's no reason for Jake to be so mean and nasty.  

While Adrien runs his bookstore and plays with his writing endeavours and worries about his health, he does his amateur sleuthing at the behest of one of the main characters, much to the - of course - dismay, obnoxious and unpleasant dismay of Jake who is now a police lieutenant.  The murder involves the movie community and the glitterati this time and wasn't quite as important to the narrative as a whole as were Adrien's reactions to the major players in his own life.  Had the balance been tipped a little more the other way, I think I'd have rated this a full 4 stars.  

I would really like to see more of Adrien with his mom, Lisa, and with his youngest step-sister, Emma.  I like the energy that they bring to their scenes, which are always among my favourites.  

So yep, another good read from Josh Lanyon and the series remains among my faves and easily recommendable.  :)