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Search tags: english-mystery
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review 2015-10-01 15:28
Those who are innocent have nothing to fear?
Farthing - Jo Walton

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.

Source: jaylia3.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/those-who-are-innocent-have-nothing-to-fear
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review 2015-07-01 19:51
DEATH OF AN ENGLISH MUFFIN
Death of an English Muffin (A Merry Muffin Mystery) - Victoria Hamilton

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!

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review 2015-02-23 17:55
Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon - My Thoughts
Death of a Pirate King (Adrien English Mystery, #4) - Josh Lanyon

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.  :)

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review 2015-02-08 17:18
The Hell You Say by Josh Lanyon - My Thoughts
The Hell You Say (Adrien English Mystery, #3) - Josh Lanyon

This is the third book in the Adrien English series and I enjoyed it as much as the first two. The mystery was sufficiently mysterious and puzzling, the characters were very good - and bad, and the sexytimes were interesting, integral to the over arcing story of Adrien's life.  

 

I really enjoy Adrien's voice.  There's a bit of sarcasm and cynicism there, as well as humour and warmth.  And he has a lovely sense of the ridiculous.  He's smart - too smart for his own good, probably, but it's a mystery series so he sort of has to be.  :)  He has a blind spot... well, okay.. maybe not an actual blind spot, but a weakness for the police detective Jake the Jerk who, as far as I'm concerned is the biggest tool in the shed.  

 

So in this mystery, we have satanism, demons, pentacles, Wiccans, possible human sacrifices and all that these entail.  We have blind alleys and red herrings that work quite well, in my opinion.  I wasn't certain who the good guys were until quite near the end.  I know what I WANTED to believe, but couldn't quite bring myself to.  It did kind of feel like the wrap-up was a bit rushed, but that might be my own penchant for details.  Every day details.  

 

The subplot of Adrien's mother's engagement was fun and added to the mystery when it needed to.  I enjoyed the new characters and am looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book.  Yes, this is a series that I will definitely be continuing and recommending to those that enjoy a good mystery with a dash of sexy romance.  

 

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review 2015-01-03 02:23
Fatal Shadows (Adrien English Mystery, #1) - Josh Lanyon

This is a generous 3 stars. I liked Adrien, but the rest of the story didn't do much for me. The mystery was predictable and the future romance between Adrien and Riordan was non-existent, IMO. I have no plans on continuing with this series.

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