I'll confess: I picked this up because it pays homage to the Thin Man movies. Yep, that's the whole reason this book ever found a home in my library bag. Oh, I might have read it eventually (I'm slowly picking my way through the cozy mysteries) but I would have held off for a bit. And no matter how much I love the Magical Cats Mysteries, I'm still leery at times when animals come into the picture. They can either be done right (the previous mentioned series and The Cat Who series) or really wrong (All Fudged Up).

I'd forgotten my love/hate relationship with this one. I still love Bess (mostly, more below) as well as most of the book. The mystery is actually really interesting and the clues are there but very hard to find.

Sadly, we see little of her family though. Simon makes a few great appearances as if to soften the blow, but IMO only serves to show what could have been.

I blame it all on Lydia. What is it with women named this in literature being selfish idiots! (Literature only, I knew two real life Lydias and they are lovely women.)

I do love this series!

After being introduced to Bess Crawford  and the world around her during WWI in A Duty to the Dead, we find her transporting long term wounded to England. One of her charges is a horribly burned pilot who clings to a picture of his wife as he also clings to life. So Bess easily recognizes her on a crowded train platform in London, crying and begging a stony-faced soldier returning to the front. It's not until she's back in France that Bess learns she may have been the last person to recognize her before she was murdered. In attempting to do her duty as an impartial witness, Bess gets drawn into a situation between two families and friends who are full of deception, anger, hatred, and secrets.

My reviews for Pleating for Mercy, A Fitting End, Deadly Pattern, A Custom-Fit, and A Killing Notion.

Another decent continuation of the series. Harlow agrees to make aprons for the Red Hat Society's progressive dinner. Each woman will get a personalized one, starting with the leader - Harlow's conveniently created next door neighbor we've never heard of before.

But when our MC stumbles on her corpse lying in a just dug grave, could it be one of the group that got rid of the often abrasive woman or someone closer to home.

Before this, I'd never even heard of Christie's Harley Quin series of short stories. I'll admit that even after listening to this, I still don't know what to think.

Mr. Satterwaithe buys a painting of a dead harlequin lying on the floor with the same person looking in at the scene from the window. He asks the artist to join him for dinner along with Colonel Monkton and the history behind the picture comes out. The sudden suicide of Lord Charnley, which Monkton was there for, is the source and elements of the picture are suggestive. Two other guests who were there arrive "unexpectedly," both wanting to purchase the picture. Mr. Harley Quin appears and the truth comes out.