Evil at Alardyce House

This is the fourth book in the Alardyce House series. It was just published on June 30, 2023. I love this series and couldn't wait for June 30 to roll around so it would appear on my Kindle. Please note this is an updated and extended version of the previously published The Ancestral Tides.

The publisher's summary:  

THE HISTORY OF THE ALARDYCE FAMILY IS FRAUGHT WITH SCANDAL AND INTRIGUE.

But after her eldest son Robert leaves the country, finally Amy Alardyce can enjoy some peace. Robert is wanted by the police for some unspeakable crimes, and his family hope he has run far enough and never looks back.

A decade after his disappearance, Robert has forged a successful life for himself, making his fortune from the diamond and gold mines of Africa. But when he sees a death notice in the newspaper, the call to go home to Scotland grows ever louder.

At Alardyce House, there are big changes too, and the fragile peace the family have enjoyed for so long is feeling more fragile than ever. And as the past comes back to haunt Amy and her children, will she have to finally accept that the curse of the Alardcye family can never be outrun…

I read somewhere recently that this was the last book in the series. I hope this is false because it has been wonderful to read these four books. The ending of Evil at Alardyce House was shocking and I cannot tell whether the author intended it to be final or not. Perhaps it will be spun off into another series as she has done in the past.

The intricate plot certainly notched up the suspense level. There were many, many twists and turns in the second half of the book. Everytime I thought that I had a handle on where the story was going, another unbelievable twist occurred. The twists came faster and faster as the plot progressed and they all were shocking. When the story finally ended I was stunned at what had happened. To say it was unexpected is an understatement.

I enjoyed reading about the estate setting. You can never go wrong with a Downton Abbey type home for a novel. At one point a character went missing and we found out that some parts of Alardyce House had not seen anyone enter for several months. I cannot imagine a house that big but I'm willing to live in one of them! 

If you haven't had a chance to read the series, I can highly recommend it to you. The first 2 books were published in 2022 and the last 2 this year. Check it out.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Spectacular

The Spectacular was written by one of my favorite authors, Fiona Davis. I loved her Magnolia Palace and had high expectations for her newest release. It is a thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall. It was published on June 13, 2023.

The publisher's summary: 

New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes—the glamorous precision-dancing troupe—she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer. 

 

Meanwhile, the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to Peter Griggs, a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling. 

As both Marion and Peter find themselves unexpectedly pulled in to the police search for the bomber, Marion realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. In doing so, she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.

The Spectacular was fantastic! I learned alot about the beginning of the Rockettes and what the dancers lives were like. I never realized how good they were, having to learn new choreography every week while performing four concerts each day for three weeks straight. Then they were off work for a week, unless another dancer couldn't perform and they were called on to substitute. On top of that there were practice sessions several times a day.  When the author wrote about the heroine's physical pain, I felt it. However, all the work made Marion come alive.

Like all of Ms. Davis' books, it is about a famous New York City building: Radio City. I wondered whether the idea of a Rockettes story came before the idea of using Radio City. The Author's Note tells us she picks a building first. Then she looks for a seminal event that occurred there. The story she has given us in The Spectacular is historically accurate. There was a mad bomber who struck the building twice as well as bombing other buildings. A dancer and a psychiatrist put together a profile of the guy and were able to locate him. He then was sentenced to the Creedmoor Hospital mentioned on this book. With do much of the story being true, I am not sure if the book should be categorized as historical fiction. 

The writing was superb.  The pace was fast and the characters memorable. I loved the camaraderie between Marion and the dancers. They were typical young twenty somethings working their first jobs and excited over their futures. Marion's life story was heartwrenching. I felt not only her physical pain but her emotional pain as well. Losing her mother at ten was not easy, especially with a distant father and sister. I think everyone can relate to her stifled family relationships.  The men in the story were typical for the 1930s.  Marion's longtime boyfriend expected her to quit her job before he would even propose marriage.  Her father was overpowering. He expected blind obedience even though Marion and her sister were in their early 20s. 

The Spectacular is a must read for historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Tiffany Girls

Shelley Noble's 23rd novel, The Tiffany Girls, is a historical fiction account about an unknown group of female artists behind Tiffany’s legendary glassworks. It is the first book of hers that I have read and I loved it. 

The publisher's summary:

It’s 1899, and Manhattan is abuzz. Louis Comfort Tiffany, famous for his stained-glass windows, is planning a unique installation at the Paris World’s Fair, the largest in history. At their fifth-floor studio on Fourth Avenue, the artists of the Women’s Division of the Tiffany Glass Company are already working longer shifts to finish the pieces that Tiffany hopes will prove that he is the world’s finest artist in glass. Known as the “Tiffany Girls,” these women are responsible for much of the design and construction of Tiffany’s extraordinary glassworks, but none receive credit.

Emilie Pascal, daughter of an art forger, has been shunned in Paris art circles after the unmasking of her abusive father. Wanting nothing more than a chance to start a new life, she forges a letter of recommendation in hopes of fulfilling her destiny as an artist in the one place where she will finally be free to live her own life.

Grace Griffith is the best copyist in the studio, spending her days cutting glass into floral borders for Tiffany’s religious stained-glass windows. But none of her coworkers know her secret: she is living a double life as a political cartoonist under the pseudonym of G.L. Griffith—hiding her identity as a woman.

As manager of the women’s division, Clara Driscoll is responsible for keeping everything on schedule and within budget. But in the lead-up to the most important exhibition of her career, not only are her girls becoming increasingly difficult to wrangle, she finds herself obsessed with a new design: a dragonfly lamp that she has no idea will one day become Tiffany’s signature piece.

Brought together by chance, driven by their desire to be artists in one of the only ways acceptable for women in their time, these “Tiffany Girls” will break the glass ceiling of their era and for working women to come.

This story was told well. I must admit that part of the reason I loved it so much was because I am an artist. The Tiffany Girls were artists as well. I enjoyed reading about how they selected different colors of glass for the sections of the windows that they worked on. We read about Tiffany’s Four Seasons glass windows as well as his Magnolia window. The ladies who were new employees started out as cutters which surprised me. Cutting glass shapes is not easy let alone when you have to follow a drawing of what shapes and colors go where. Some of the advanced artists performed design work for Mr. Tiffany and I have to wonder whether Tiffany created his designs or hired others to dream them up. The Acknowledgments don't tell us this information. Another intriguing part of the story is that Mr. Tiffany housed and paid his female artists the same amount he paid his male employees. Again, the Acknowledgments don't tell us if this is true either.

The characters were drawn well. Grace surprised me the most. I couldn't understand why she wanted to work with Tiffany when she really wanted to pursue journalism. There was a disconnect for me here as art is so different from brainy work. Emilie was the character I couldn't help but root for. Her dream was to work for Tiffany. She planned her life so that this could be accomplished. Emilie had to save to afford the passenger ship from Paris to New York. When Emilie arrived in New York she immediately went to Tiffany’s studio to ask for a job. Of course, she got the job but I thought she was rather plucky to follow her dream so closely with no backup plan. 

This book is a must read. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Strangler Vine

I selected this book because the title of it's sequel fits the requirements of the Color Coded Reading Challenge. I will be reading The Infadel Stain next month for this challenge. This series by M. J. Carter is a historical thriller series. 

The publisher's summary:

India, 1837: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery. What starts as a wild goose chase for this unlikely pair—trying to track down a missing writer who lifts the lid on Calcutta society—becomes very much more sinister as Blake and Avery get sucked into the mysterious Thuggee cult and its even more ominous suppression.

There are shades of Heart of Darkness, sly references to Conan Doyle, that bring brilliantly to life the India of the 1830s with its urban squalor, glamorous princely courts and bazaars, and the ambiguous presence of the British overlords—the officers of the East India Company—who have their own predatory ambitions beyond London's oversight

There isn't much of a mystery in this novel. I would say it is an atmospheric mystery where the setting is predominant over the action. We mostly read about the customs, sights and sounds of India. While I love India fiction, I also want a story. There is a murder to solve but it takes second place to the setting. 

The novel is described as a historical thriller. It is historical as it takes place in the nineteenth century. However, this is not a thriller. None of this bodes well for my reading and review of The Infadel Stain but since it's already on my Kindle I plan on reading it.

Where Waters Meet

Where Waters Meet is Zhang Ling's second novel to be translated into English. It follows A Single Swallow. It is a heartwrenching story about a daughter and her journey to discovering the truth about her mother's life after her death.  

The publisher's summary:

There was rarely a time when Phoenix Yuan-Whyller’s mother, Rain, didn’t live with her. Even when Phoenix got married, Rain, who followed her from China to Toronto, came to share Phoenix’s life. Now at the age of eighty-three, Rain’s unexpected death ushers in a heartrending separation.

Struggling with the loss, Phoenix comes across her mother’s suitcase—a memory box Rain had brought from home. Inside, Phoenix finds two old photographs and a decorative bottle holding a crystallized powder. Her auntie Mei tells her these missing pieces of her mother’s early life can only be explained when they meet, and so, clutching her mother’s ashes, Phoenix boards a plane for China. What at first seems like a daughter’s quest to uncover a mother’s secrets becomes a startling journey of self-discovery.

Told across decades and continents, Zhang Ling’s exquisite novel is a tale of extraordinary courage and survival. It illuminates the resilience of humanity, the brutalities of life, the secrets we keep and those we share, and the driving forces it takes to survive.

I loved this story enough to immediately reread it after finishing it. There is alot of nuance to the story and I wasn't sure whether I picked them all up during the first read. It's such a lovely story which also made me want to read it again. It reminded me of last year's Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu.

Women are the main characters in the book. Phoenix Yuan-Whyller is the narrator. She took care of her mother Rain, born Chunyu, during her entire life including during her marriage to George Whyller. Rain’s sister Mei is another strong character. Rain and Mei's mother is also featured in a few chapters and the reader gets the sense that strength runs in the women of the family. They overcome everything. It was interesting that they chose weak men as husbands. For Rain and Phoenix it was a matter of wanting to take care of someone. Mei is still a mystery to me as she was to both her sister and her niece. 

The family originated in China. Rain and Mei lived through three wars there: WWII, the Japanese War and the Civil War between the nationalists and the communists. They suffered severe hunger and bombing raids, as did everyone else in China. Rain and Mei's parents died in a bombing of their village East End. The sisters were captured by Japanese soldiers and forced to be prostitutes. Rain handled it better than Mei who was unable to eat or even get up off her mattress. With her sister's help Mei escaped and joined the communists and fought alongside Mao's warriors. Rain eventually made her way to Hong Kong and then Toronto where she and her daughter lived with Phoenix’s husband George. I see George as weak compared to his wife. He was American and refused to fight in the Vietnam War. He fled to Canada. Rain’s husband was a war hero who was disabled from war wounds and needed a wife to provide for his needs.

While the book begins in Toronto most of the action takes place in China. This family saga is definitely the exquisite tale that it is advertised to be and it has captured my heart. I am rating it way, way over 5 out of 5 stars.

Murder Under a Red Moon

Murder Under A Red Moon is the second Bangalore Detective Mystery. The first book, The Bangalore Detectives Club, was published last year and I loved it. As you would expect, the stories take place in Bangalore, India during the 1920s. Kaveri Murthy is our main character and she is the amateur sleuth of the series. While she has a group of women who help her with investigations, Kaveri is the star. Her group includes a street urchin, a nosy neighbor, an ex-prostitute and a policeman's wife.  In this installment of the series she is a fairly new bride with a domineering mother-in-law. After a murder occurs during the blood moon eclipse, Kaveri agrees to investigate. Against a backdrop of rising anti-British sentiment and a charismatic swami's influence, Kaveri's hometown of Bangalore is becoming more and more a dangerous place to live. Kaveri continues to investigate anyway, wearing her usual sari and driving her 1920s Ford. 

I loved that Kaveri always wore a sari. Even when it restricted her legs as she maneuvered through fields and muddy paths Kaveri always wore a beautiful sari. The Hindu faith tradition is a huge part of the story. Most of the characters are practicing Hindus whose insights into the why and how of the murder are influenced by their faith. As for Kaveri and her husband Ramu, a doctor, they are atheists. Food is another big part of the story. The author writes meals into her story which were both captivating to me and giving me angina at the same time from imagining the spiciness of these foods which I myself have eaten in the past. The investigation of the murder had twists and turns that I did not expect and I was surprised by the ending. The identity of the killer was not a surprise but why the killer felt the need to kill was a surprise. 

Murder Under a Red Moon was a satisfying read.  I highly recommend this historical mystery series to all mystery fans and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

His Fatal Legacy

 

This third book in the Alardyce House series ended with a cliffhanger just as the earlier books ended. Now I will have to wait until June for the next one to be published. Grrrr. The series is fantastic. It takes place in Victorian Edinburgh and features the Alardyce family as the main characters. Amy is married to Henry and is the mother of Robert. Robert is the villain. He has beaten, raped and killed several characters and is unable to stop his compulsion for violence. The family don't want him to hang so his crimes are covered up. 

The publisher's summary:

Amy Alardyce's once-perfect life is in tatters. Her eldest son, Robert, has come of age, become the master of his own home, and married his childhood love Jane.  But with maturity has come a terrible legacy, and the dark desires Robert inherited from his evil father Matthew, are fighting to get loose.

Whilst Jane is working hard to get her and Robert accepted into fashionable society, poor women are being hunted on the streets of Edinburgh, and Amy fears her son is to blame.  And once the infamous Inspector Murphy takes up the case, Amy has to face a stark choice - denounce her son as a monster or risk her own safety to protect him from the consequences of his lethal actions.

This series is remarkable. It has captivated me since I read the first two books last month. They all are page turners and His Fatal Legacy is no different. The Edinburgh setting is not prominent. The Victorian era is more of a setting here as the characters fumble under the era's strictures on life.  It is amazing to me that the Alardyce family is more concerned about their reputation than stopping one of their own from beating and raping women.  Every decision they make is centered around maintaining their social standing. Robert is the perfect villain.  We don't know why he kills other than a darkness coming over him before he strikes. It sounds like schizophrenia to me and a diagnosis for Robert in a future novel would be interesting to read about. His dark side was abated for a short while after the birth of his daughter which I did not believe would last. It didn't. Robert is a character that I enjoy hating. He does not like anyone in society, refuses to attend balls or parties with his wife and is generally disagreeable. 

His mother Amy metamorphoses quickly between motherly love and the desire to protect society from her son. While she has tried to help him, ultimately, she will protect him from himself.  I don't think her character, or Henry's, was as strong in this installment of the series as in earlier ones. This novel was primarily about Robert and his wife Jane. The arrival of Inspector Murphy brings suspense to the story because he is never far behind Robert and I thought that he would catch Robert in the act. 

The writing in the novel was suspenseful and with its quick pace is a fast read.  I highly recommend this historical mystery.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Last Russian Doll

I have been looking forward to the publication of this novel for several weeks. It is an epic story about three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 Communist Revolution to the final days of the Soviet Union.  The Last Russian Doll is a mesmerizing story that is going to stick with me for a long time.

The publisher's summary:

In a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land...
 
...a young girl lived happily in Moscow with her family: a sister, a father, and an eccentric mother who liked to tell fairy tales and collect porcelain dolls. 
 
One summer night, everything changed, and all that remained of that family were the girl and her mother.
 
Now, a decade later and studying at Oxford University, Rosie has an English name, a loving fiancé, and a promising future, but all she wants is to understand--and bury--the past. After her mother dies, Rosie returns to Russia, armed with little more than her mother’s strange folklore--and a single key.
 
What she uncovers is a devastating family history that spans the 1917 Revolution, the siege of Leningrad, Stalin’s purges, and beyond.
 
At the heart of this saga stands a young noblewoman, Tonya, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actions—and love for an idealistic man—will set off a sweeping story that reverberates across the century....

OMG! This was such a captivating read. It's going to be in my top ten books of the year; the third book I have read this year that will most likely be on that list. I learned alot about Russian history during the twentieth century and how that history affected common people. The reader gets to see how the economy tumbled after the czar's abdication, during the Russian Revolution, and the end of the Soviet Union. I was surprised at how little people helped out their neighbors and how they instinctively knew to not talk about their families even in the beginning of the Revolution. This begs the question: what happened before the twentieth century that caused the Russians to not trust their neighbors?

As for Rosie and Tonya, their characters were sympathetic enough for me to worry about them as I read. Rosie has memories of her early years living in Russia that frighten her. She remembers a man shooting her sister and father in their home but does not remember much about the rest of the family's flight to England. When an opportunity arises that allows her to travel to Russian as a research assistant, she takes it even though she is given up a promising career and relationship. When she arrives in Russia, she feels like she is at home. The fairy tales that her mother told her seem to be more and more real. Rosie tries to determine what part of these fairy tales are truth and what part is fiction. They confuse her take on reality. Tonya was the wife of a government employee when the Russian Revolution began but her husband bores her. When she sees a man publicly speaking about the need for revolution she is attracted to him and they soon begin a rather risky affair. Theirs is a love affair for the ages, lasting until the end of their lives. However, the reader does not know this because they were separated frequently by the throes of history. Tonya's story is the main storyline of the book.

Each section of the book began with a short fairy tale supposedly written by Tonya. As I was reading I wondered if these were actual Russian fairy tales. The Acknowledgment at the end of the book tells us that the author made them all up for this novel. They were so good that I think author Kristen Loetsch should write a children's book of fairy tales. Interspersed with the fairy tales are the porcelain dolls that several characters collect and which hold the key to the family's history.

The Last Russian Doll is simply magnificent.  It is a must read. 5 out of 5 stars.

Weyward

Weyward is Emilia Hart's debut novel and it is terrific. This story is told in three alternating points of view. The first viewpoint comes from Altha, a seventeenth century healer who was accused and tried for witchcraft. Violet's viewpoint is next and her story is the main story being told in the book. Kate is the twentieth century Weyward whose story we read about. All three of these women have characteristics in common. They were emotionally abused by men who were supposed to take care of them. Two of them were also sexually abused. This victimhood tendency of the ladies was unfortunately passed down through the generations. However, it was presented instead as them inheriting healing power from their ancestors.

The publisher's summary:  

I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world. 

This was a spectacular story. I know its going to be a contender for my book of the year. Each of the Weyward ladies were beguiling, ensnaring you in to their orbit. I couldn't stop reading about their lives and hated for the book to come to an end. I loved these women. The eras is which they lived, while different, affected what happened to them and how society would or would not allow them to respond to their challenges. This is very much a feminist novel. We see the Weyward women rising above their circumstances and defeating the men who oppressed them. 

There is a touch of magical realism in the story. The Weyward women are nature lovers who feel that birds understand them and can help them with their healing powers. Altha and Violet were close to insects and kept them in their rooms; even talking to them. Both studied insects and found out alot about nature as well as people from how the insects lived. At the end of the book we see them completely covering the home of one of the male abusers. 

I am amazed at the author Emilia Hart's ability to weave such a gripping tale in her debut novel. I have high hopes for her in the future and cannot wait to read her next book. Hart is a lawyer who lives in London. Her writing education came from Curtis Brown Creative’s three month online novel writing course. Doesn't this give all of us newby writers hope for our own success?

I cannot recommend this book more highly. I absolutely loved it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Rail Splitter

I received a copy of John Cribb's The Rail Splitter from the Early Reviewer's Group at Librarything. As you would expect from the title, it is a historical fiction novel about Abe Lincoln. It tells about his journey from his youth living in a log cabin to his candidacy for the Presidency.

The publisher's summary:

The story begins with Lincoln’s youth on the frontier, where he grows up with an ax in one hand and book in the other, determined to make something of himself. He sets off on one adventure after another, from rafting down the Mississippi River to marching in an Indian war. When he is twenty-six, the girl he hopes to marry dies of fever. He spends days wandering the countryside in grief. A few years later, he purchases a ring inscribed with the words “Love Is Eternal” and enters a tempestuous marriage with Mary Todd.
 
Lincoln literally wrestles his way to prominence on the Illinois prairies. He teaches himself the law and enters the rough and tumble world of frontier politics. With Mary’s encouragement, he wins a term in the US Congress, but his political career falters. They are both devastated by the loss of a child. As arguments over slavery sweep the country, Lincoln finds something worth fighting for, and his debates with brash rival Stephen Douglas catapult him toward the White House.
 
Part coming-of-age story, part adventure story, part love story, and part rags-to-riches story, The Rail Splitter is the making of Abraham Lincoln. The story of the rawboned youth who goes from a log cabin to the White House is, in many ways, the great American story. The Rail Splitter reminds us that the country Lincoln loved is a place of wide-open dreams where extraordinary journeys unfold.

I loved this book! It was a page turning exploration of Lincoln's life. I wondered as I read whether the story would be as interesting if it was not about Lincoln. I couldn't figure that out because Lincoln is such a beloved figure in America that it doesn't matter. I also wondered what parts of the story were historical and what parts were fiction. Obviously, Lincoln's work history was true. I am wondering whether the social aspects of the story were true. The author tells us in the Acknowledgments that he found information about Lincoln's social life in the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. 

One thing that surprised me was that Lincoln's bouts of depression and anxiety began in early childhood. I had always thought that the depression began while he was in the White House. However, he had an episode of delirium that lasted 3 days before he was even 18. Later in life he tried hard not to give in to these impulses. It would be interesting what diagnosis today's psychologists would come up with. I am sure the death of his mother when he was young was a factor but I have never heard any commentary on this subject.

The book does not tell us why Abe left home at 18 but if you really think about it, there had to be trouble at home. The book shows Abe having a good relationship with his step-mother. That leaves his father Thomas as the source of the family feud. Lincoln couldn't wait to get away so this relationship had to be tense. 

Wife Mary appears sympathetic until she reaches her 50s, around the time her husband is being considered to be a candidate for the Presidency. She has become a nag and has violent arguments with Abe. She even hit him with a piece of wood on his nose,causing it to bleed. Since I am female, my mind automatically goes to menopause as the cause of her outbursts. Again, I have never heard any realistic reasons ever being given for her mental disorder.

You will not be able to put this book down. I highly recommend it and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Cursed Heir

The Cursed Heir is the 2nd book in author Heather Atkinson's Alardyce House series. The series takes place in Edinburgh during the Victorian Era and in this installment of the series the family has gathered to celebrate the engagement of Alardyce House heir Robert to his childhood sweetheart Jane. For his mother Amy the moment is marred by the darkness she sees in Robert, a darkness that his biological father  Matthew had. Matthew was a criminal who beat and killed women and was hung for his crimes. Amy wants to prevent her son from the noose. However, reports are emerging about Robert beating female household staff. Amy fears that the streets of Edinburgh are not safe when Robert is in town. To make matters worse, the increasing distance between him and his step-father Henry threatens the peace of Henry's marriage to Amy. The only question is whether this most cursed heir will ruin the family's reputation forever or will a mother's love save them all.

This was an exciting page turner with alot of plot twists. The reader never knows when Robert is going to strike again or when other characters will prevent him from obtaining access to girls that he is interested in. The story begins several years after the first book ends. Since the family relationships are complex, I recommend that you read The Missing Girls of Alardyce House first. Even though I read the first book month or two ago, I found it difficult in the beginning to remember who hurt who previously.  While I loved The Cursed Heir, I think that The Missing Girls of Alardyce House was better.  Cursed Heir had less action but more family drama. The story ended with an unresolved cliff-hanger that won't be resolved until the third book of the series, His Fatal Legacy begins.  His Fatal Legacy was published last month on March 20, 2023.  I will be reading it next month.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Papal Assassin's Curse

The Papal Assassin's Curse is the third book in a new series by S. J. Martin. Called the Papal Assassin's Series, the stories take place in the early Middle Ages in France and Rome. It was published on March 26, 2023.

The publisher's summary:

Piers De Chatillon, antihero, paid assassin, wealthy and powerful, now seems to have everything.  A beautiful, loving wife, thriving twin boys and the friendship of some of the most feared warriors in Europe.  Nonetheless, he has made dozens of enemies along the way, and one of them is prepared to risk everything to destroy him.

Europe in 1096 was a turbulent place.  Duke Robert's invasion of England has failed and he is trying to hold on to Normany while both of his brothers plot to take it.  Piers De Chatillon, as Papal Envoy, is trying to steer a ship through these troubled waters just as his uncle, Pope Urban, calls for a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. Duke Robert foolishly leads this crusade leaving Normandy in the hands of his brother, William Rufus.  At the same time, Chatillon receives an assassination request that shocks him.  He is offered a fortune to kill a king.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Ibn Hud, known as Sheikh Ishmael, one of he most brutal and feared pirates in the Mediterranean, is launching a plan to tear the hears out of Chatillon's world.  The pirate intends to snatch Pier's wife and children while Piers is on his way to Rome with the Crusaders.  Will Pier's friend, Edvard, and the Irish warlord, Finian Ui Neil be able to stop them, or will Chatillon lose everything?

This installment of the series was fantastic. Chatillon's wife and two sons are kidnapped by the Shiek Ismael at the beginning of the second third of the story and are to be sold as slaves. The Shiek's men separate Chatillon's wife Isabella from her sons and they travel in different directions on the European continent so as to impede efforts by Chatillon to save them. The chase was riveting and I think I felt as much fear as Isabella. My imagination went wild because I could see myself in her shoes. There are several maps at the back of the book of France and ports in the Mediterranean. It would have been helpful to place them at the beginning of the book because I didn't know they were there until I finished the book. 

The first third of the book was about Chatillon's friend and Irish warrior Finian Ui Neill. Finian's relative Padraig comes to visit and brings along Pierre. Padraig is friendly with Chatillon's wife and children but Pierre is anti-social and quick tempered. He is only allowed to stay with the family because he is with Finian's cousin.  I did not know where the story was going until Isabella was kidnapped. Looking back, it seems odd that so many pages were devoted to Padraig and Pierre's visit. 

The story ended with a cliffhanger and we won't know the outcome of the kidnapping until The Papal Assassin's Wrath is published in June 2023. I am way too excited for this release. 

The Flame Tree

The Flame Tree is the first book in a duology set in Hong Kong during WWII.  I was attracted to the book because of its beautiful cover and also because the setting was in China. I love reading asian fiction. However, this book was not as interesting to me as other asian fiction novels that I have read.

The publisher's summary:

In the spring of 1939, dashing young William Burton and the beautiful Constance Han set sail from London on the same ocean liner to Hong Kong. Romance blossoms while they enjoy games of deck quoits and spend sultry tropical evenings dancing under the stars. Connie is intrigued by Will’s talent for writing poetry, and she offers to give him Cantonese lessons to help him with his new job— a cadet in the colonial service.

But once in Hong Kong, Connie is constrained by filial duty towards her Eurasian parents, and their wish for her to marry someone from her own background. She can't forget Will however, and arranges to meet him in secret under the magnificent canopy of a flame of the forest tree— where she fulfills her promise to teach him to speak Chinese. Before too long, trouble looms as Japanese forces gather on the border between Hong Kong and mainland China. Will joins a commando group tasked with operating behind enemy lines, and Connie becomes involved in the fight against local fifth columnists.

When war breaks out, they find themselves drawn into a wider conflict than their battle against prejudice. Can they survive and achieve a future together? Or do forces beyond their control keep them forever apart?

The first half of the book was about Will and Connie's relationship. The second half was more war story with the author giving us a full account of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. I got bored reading about Will's military activities. When the plot returned to him and Connie, I became interested in the book again.  

The title of the book comes from the name of the tree under which Will and Connie would secretly meet in the botanical gardens. They were hidden from view when they sat under it which was important to Connie because her reputation would have been destroyed if people knew she was seeing a European man. Her marriage prospects would have taken a nose dive.  After a year of weekly secret meetings, Connie fell madly in love with Will and the relationship turned physical. She agreed to ask her father if they could marry, knowing he would day no. At this point, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong and the story switched from a romance to a war story.  

I enjoyed the Hong Kong setting. I felt that I was alongside Will as he experienced new places in the city. As he found delight in the culture,  I felt it too. Each restaurant and home that he visited was a new experience for him and I couldn't help but want to have that experience myself. 

I am not sure how to rate The Flame Tree. I only liked half of it but I am interested in reading part 2 of the duology, mainly to see what happens with Will and Connie.  I am giving it a 3 out of 5 stars.

The Paris Notebook

The Paris Notebook is about a secret. It's a secret that might be big enough to destroy Adolf Hitler's reputation. The story takes place in 1939 Germany with Hitler's former psychiatrist Ernst Viktor undertaking the publication of his patient notes in order to stop Hitler. Dr. Viktor treated Hitler during WWI when he suffered from hysterical blindness. I found this angle on WWII to be amusing, believing it to be fiction. It isn't.

The publisher's summary:

When Katja Heinz secures a job as a typist at Doctor Viktor’s clinic, she doesn’t expect to be copying top secret medical records from a notebook. At the end of the first world war, Doctor Viktor treated soldiers for psychological disorders. One of the patients was none other than Adolf Hitler. The notes in his possession declare Hitler unfit for office – a secret that could destroy the Führer’s reputation, and change the course of the war if exposed.  

With the notebook hidden in her hat box, Katja and Doctor Viktor travel to Paris. Seeking refuge in the Shakespeare and Company bookshop, they hope to find a publisher brave enough to print the controversial script. Katja is being watched though. Nazi spies in Paris have discovered her plan. They will stop at nothing to destroy the notebook and silence those who know of the secret hidden inside. 

I loved this novel. It is a riveting story with plenty of tension from the first pages. You can feel the fear among Katja and Dr. Viktor as they prepare the transcribed copy of the doctor's patient notes as well as keeping the manuscript hidden. Their fears that the Nazi's would find out what they were doing were appropriate. They were surrounded by Nazi sympathizers who were watching them closely. The plot premise is that if Hitler's psychiatric records were published, he would not be able to remain in control of Germany. I am not sure whether I believe this premise since Hitler governed by fear. I can appreciate, though, that the characters believed this to be true. They were living in desperate times. 

The setting for the story was Hamburg and Paris. The characters lived and worked in Hamburg but traveled to Paris several times to find a publisher. Every move they made in Paris was more suspenseful than their movements in Hamburg. I think that their train travel was the most suspenseful part of the story though. The Gestapo checked every train car looking for Jewish travelers as well as suspicious Germans before the trains left Germany. Katja was Jewish but this fact was a secret from the other characters. There were alot of twists and turns in the story that added to the suspense factor.

The Author's Note at the conclusion of the book tells the reader what part of the novel is based on truth and what part is fiction. I was astonished to find out that Lance Corporal Hitler was treated for a psychiatric disorder after a gas attack during WWI by Dr. Edmund Forster. Forster wanted to publish Hitler's medical records because he was troubled by his former patient's rise to power. Forster is believed to have passed them on to a group of anti-fascist German writers in 1933. One of them is Ernst Weiss who wrote a novel in 1938 called The Eyewitness. It was not published until the 1960s and it is believed that Dr. Forster's notes are the basis for the novel.

The Paris Notebook is definitely a must read!  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Perfumist of Paris

The Perfumist of Paris is the final book in Alka Joshi's Jaipur trilogy. The trilogy began with The Henna Artist and last year The Secret Keeper of Jaipur was published. Perfumist was published on March 28, 2023 and it is the best book of the trilogy.  If you read the first two books in the series you will remember that it is about two sisters, Lakshmi and Radha, and their "adopted" brother Malik. The Perfumist of Paris is Radha’s story.

The publisher's summary:  

Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents. 

She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.  

Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.

I cannot speak more highly about this book.  I loved everything about it from the setting to the descriptions of scents that Radha considered for the perfume she was creating for an anonymous client. The client requested that this perfume be based on Manet's painting Olympia. Radha had many scents gathered onto her perfume organ including vetiver, sandalwood, roses, fig, keira, saffron, henna, geranium, honey, gardenia, cedar, myrrh, musk, frangipani, sage, orange blossom, damask rose, lavender, lily of the valley, lemon, bergamot, manger, pine needles, rosemary, chocolate, vanilla, clove, cardamon, juniper berry, and jasmine. What's a perfume organ? It's just the layout of the 300 scents Radha works with that give the appearance of a church organ. However, Radha knows that something is missing. She frequently visits the Manet painting in a nearby museum for inspiration but ultimately decides that the scent she is seeking can only be found in India: mitti attar a/k/a rain. Her boss approves her travel and Radha is soon reunited with her family in India. 

India has always been an exotic destination for me. The sights and sounds, always loud, never cease to captivate me. The descriptions of the food are just as enticing as the 300 scents that Radha uses in her daily work. Perfumist is a sensual book in this respect. While Perfumist can be read as a standalone novel, I recommend that you begin with the first book in the trilogy if you haven't read the series before. It will make more sense.  I thought the writing was superb. The first few pages had alot of backstory but this narrative had a hypnotic feel to it. 

This might be my book of the year for 2023. It's that good. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Papal Assassin's Wife

The Papal Assassin's Wife is the 2nd book in the Papal Assassin historical thriller series by S. J. Martin. I had high expectations for the book since the first book in the series was fantastic. However, this installment of the series was seriously lacking in excitement.

The publisher's summary:  

It is 1088, King William the Conqueror is dead, and his two eldest sons are about to go to war for the throne of England. It is a turbulent time in Europe, and Chatillon, at the heart of it all, must decide which of William's sons the Pope should support. Should it be the eldest, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy or William Rufus, who has already crowned himself King of England?

Piers De Chatillon, the tall, handsome master swordsman, powerful Papal envoy and assassin, has finally married the beautiful young Isabella Embriaco. He intends to turn her into a top political courtesan, assassin and spy. She will be trained to bring him valuable information by moving through the noble beds of Europe and removing those men who cause him problems. His dangerous lifestyle will repeatedly put her life at risk as she becomes a pawn in a deadly game.

Chatillon, involved in the imminent war between the two brothers, disregards the warnings of his friends to take care. They know a brutal Saracen pirate is out for revenge and will try to kill Chatillon and his new wife. Chatillon sends Isabella to Ghent on her first mission to kill an old enemy of his, not realising she is now carrying his child. Meanwhile, the Saracen assassins follow close behind her, and Chatillon is over a hundred leagues away in Normandy, too far away to save her.

I could not get myself interested in the story until Chatilllon marries. This was a good 60 pages from the beginning of the novel. Once he marries Isabella, the story became fascinating. The plot alternated between the war action that Chatillon was involved in and Isabella's love triangles. I was never able to enjoy the Chatillon subplot and skipped pages. There are alot of characters in the book, 49, so perhaps the problem was keeping up with all of them. 

I am still going to read the next book in the series, The Papal Assassin's Curse, which will be published later in the year. If it doesn't excite me, I will give up on the series. 

2 out of 5 stars.

Night Angels

Night Angels is Weina Dao Randel's 4th novel. She wrote the Empress of Bright Moon duology that many historical fiction fans loved. In her newest novel, Randel writes about a diplomatic couple who are risking their lives to help Jews in Vienna escape the Nazis. It is inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan.

The publisher's summary:  

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Night Angels is a gripping historical fiction novel that grabs your attention from the first page. I found myself rooting for Fengshan as he faced mounting pressure to stop issuing visas. He endured threats to his and his family's physical safety from Adolph Eichmann and his superiors in China. His career in the Republic of China diplomatic corps was also threatened. Fengshan, a Christian, became more emboldened with each threat. As these threats became more intense, Fengshan knew that it was his mission in life to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis. In the end, he did not care what he had to endure from the Nazis.

Not much is said about Fengshan's faith. The author only tells us that he is a member of the Lutheran Church. However, we never see him going to church. Perhaps the churches were closed by this time period of 1938 to 1940. The author does not tell us. The reader sees Fengsham driving by his church to look at it when he is overwhelmed. He is initially prompted by his wife Grace to save her friend Lola by giving her a visa. Fengshan does not want to do this because his bosses are against angering the Nazis. China needs weapons from Germany in order to fight the Japanese who were occupying China. He is unable to ignore his wife's pleas and with each visa that he processes, Fengshan feels easier about what he is doing.

I loved reading about this little known part of WWII history. The twist of foreign diplomats dealing with the Nazi regime is a new one for WWII fiction. It gives us a fresh perspective on how foreign countries, non-Allies that is, dealt with Germany during the war. 

Night Angels is a must read! 5 out of 5 stars.

The Porcelain Moon

The Porcelain Moon is Janie Chang's fourth novel. It takes place in France during World War 1 and follows the travails of two young women in France as the country is torn apart by he war. Main character Pauline is Chinese and is in France with her cousin to support the family’s porcelain trade. 

The publisher's summary:

France, 1918. In the final days of the First World War, a young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. To prevent the union, she needs the help of her cousin Theo, who is working as a translator for the Chinese Labour Corps in the French countryside. In the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, Camille Roussel is planning her escape from an abusive marriage, and to end a love affair that can no longer continue. When Camille offers Pauline a room for her stay, the two women become friends. But it’s not long before Pauline uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.

Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.

Before reading this book I knew nothing about the Chinese laborers who came to France during WW1. I learned alot about this little known part of history and am glad that the author highlighted it. I was hoping to read more about the porcelain industry but it was merely the backdrop to the lives of the characters.

The chapters alternated between Pauline and Camille's story and toward the end of the book these stories merged into a pleasing ending. Both Pauline and Camille were interesting characters but I was more attracted to Pauline's story. She came to Paris as the illegitimate niece of the Pagoda owner Louis Deng and was able to build the life that she wanted there. She had many more challenges to overcome than Camille so she was my favorite character.  There was always the possibility that she could be sent back to China as the bride of someone who she did not know and that's pretty scary.  Pauline always knew that if a marriage was arranged for her that she would go along with it to maintain her family's pride. This is heroic.

The Porcelain Moon is a must read for historical fiction fans. It was just published last week and you need to get a copy of it.  5 out of 5 stars.