The Avignon Affair

The Avignon Affair is the newest installment of the Vatican Secret Archives thriller series by Gary McAvoy and Ronald Moore. It takes place in Rome and Paris in the present day. There is also an alternating plot that takes place in France in the 1300s that concerns the death of a cardinal who is masquerading as a bishop while carrying a secret document. 

The publisher's summary:

Father Michael Dominic is called to France for an unusual assignment. A fourteenth-century bishop was found in a crypt buried under the burnt remnants of Notre-Dame-but he's wearing the ring of a cardinal, and two parchment scrolls had been hidden in his garment sleeve. Who was this 700-year-old custodian of carefully guarded secrets?

Once Father Dominic decodes the rolled scrolls, long-hidden confessions are exposed that throw France into political turmoil while creating havoc within Dominic's own team of friends. Relationships are tested and shocking new revelations emerge in The Avignon Affair.

I could not put this book down. The mystery to be solved begins with the Prologue so that the rest of the story is about what happened, how and why. The team of Father Dominic, Hana Sinclair and Marco Picard return in this installment of the series to solve another mystery from medieval times. Medieval mysteries are my favorite sub-genre so this series is a perfect fit for me. The team includes Father Michael Dominic who is the head of the Vatican Secret Archives, Hana Sinclair who is a reporter for the French newspaper Le Monde and Marco Picard, a bodyguard hired by Sinclair's grandfather to protect her. After reading 3 books in the series, they have become old friends to me.

While I was riveted by the story, the plot turned into a fantastical ending that was not believable. It was definitely interesting but just not plausible. I hate to be a spoiler here so I won't go into any details. The history part of the series delves into the Papacy of the late 1300s and the French monarchy which I thoroughly enjoyed. The authors mixed the older history with the new as the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is also part of the story. This mix is what makes this series tick. 

I hate to give a McAvoy book a lower rating that 5 out of 5 stars but The Avignon Affair had flaws. I am rating it 4 because the suspense level was significant.

Census

Census is a 5 part Comixology Original comic by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman. It is advertised as a horror comedy by the publisher. I have read the first 4 installments of the series and the final part will be published January 17, 2023. The story is about Liam Malone who takes a job as a census taker for $32 an hour. Liam has no ambition in life. After six years attending college he has not been able to obtain a degree and is looking for any job other than cleaning up human waste. While riding a bus in New York City he sees a sign that says "Good pay, flexible hours, no experience necessary" so heads over for an interview and gets a job working for the Census Bureau. What Liam doesn't know about this new job is that he will be counting demons for the Underworld census. He has to count and register all of the demons, djinns, changelings and other supernatural beings in New York. Liam learns that to get the job of a lifetime you sometimes have to sell your soul.

The idea for the story is rather creative but with Liam meeting female supernaturals who rape him for his blood, this is obviously written by a man. A woman writer would never create a character who is unappealing physically but cannot fight off the women who want him. The adolescent stuff aside, Census is hilarious. The reader sees Liam going door to door, never knowing what he is going to find when that door opens. Liam's home situation is also hilarious. He shares an apartment with two other men and they alternate who gets to sleep in a bed and who has to sleep in the bathtub. One roommate is always shown naked sitting on a toilet so the adolescent element continues throughout the story.

Each installment of the comic shows Liam coming across different types of creatures. For example, in part 2 he comes across a group of leprechauns that he must register. I enjoyed the story and wish it could keep on going. However, there is only one more release before this comic ends.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Sterling Affair

The Sterling Affair is the 8th installment of the Forensic Genealogist Series by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. I have read four other books in the series but not in order of publication so I was surprised to read in Sterling that the main character, Morton Farrier, was married with one child. The plot for Sterling is a bit more complex than prior novels. I am not sure how I feel about that as I loved the earlier books. However, the author is keeping the series fresh. His last two books are part of a new series, Venator Cold Case Series, wherein an investigative genetic geneology company, called Venator of course, is used to solve homicides. Venator is introduced in Sterling .

Back to the book at hand. . . The publisher's summary:  

When an unannounced stranger comes calling at Morton Farrier’s front door, he finds himself faced with the most intriguing and confounding case of his career to-date as a forensic genealogist. He agrees to accept the contract to identify a man who had been secretly living under the name of his new client’s long-deceased brother. Morton must use his range of resources and research skills to help him deconstruct this mysterious man’s life, ultimately leading him back into the murky world of 1950s international affairs of state. Meanwhile, Morton is faced with his own alarmingly close DNA match which itself comes with far-reaching implications for the Farriers.

I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected. The subplot concerning the spies was complex and while I normally love spy thrillers, I missed the simplicity of the earlier novels which focused on how Morton went about his genealogical research. As someone who enjoys doing this kind of research, the earlier novels hit my spot. That said, both of the book's subplots were intricately woven and well researched. I can see how Goodwin has improved his writing.

The story began with an Abstract that discussed the removal of 1,000 files by civil servants from England's National Archives relating to MI5, MI6 and MI8. The files were taken to Whitehall. This intrigued me and is part of the reason why I tried to concentrate on the spy subplot to make sure that I didn't miss anything. The information for the Abstract came from an article in The Guardian on December 26, 2017. Each of the files contained dozens of papers and some of these files included documents on the Falklands, Northern Ireland's Troubles, Britain's administration in Palestine, and tests on polio vaccines. 

I am sorry to say that Sterling is only a 3 out of 5 stars as Goodwin is one of my favorite authors.

Murder in Plain Sight

Murder in Plain Sight is the first book in the Brotherhood of the Raven trilogy that takes place in Amish country. It is different from the usual Amish fiction as this one is a murder mystery. Author Marta Perry has published 118 novels! All of them are Amish fiction. I enjoyed this book so I think I will be very busy reading some of her novels this year. 

The publisher's summary:  

Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him—against the community's bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman Trey Morgan, who has ties to the Amish community… and believes in the boy's guilt.

Jessica has threats coming from all sides: a local fanatic, stirred up by the biased publicity of the case; the dead girl's boyfriend; even from the person she's learned to trust the most, Trey Morgan. But just when Jessica fears she's placed her trust in the wrong man, Trey saves her life. And now they must both reach into a dangerous past to protect everyone's future—including their own.

The mystery concerning who killed Cherry Wilson was expertly plotted. However, our protagonist Jessica Langdon is a lousy attorney. No, this is not stated in the story but it is obvious that she is incompetent because she was sharing confidential information about the case with most of the characters in the story. She let herself be guided by them.

Jessica's character is the only character I didn't like much. She is not plausible as an attorney. Trey is interesting in that he is an Englischer who is fully trusted by his Amish neighbors. His mother Geneva is a sweet, wise woman and I would love to read more stories that include them both. The Amish Bishop was portrayed as a kindly old soul. He was not the usual ornery, stay away from the English, boss that I am accustomed to read about. All of these characters would make awesome series characters. Jessica needs work though. The budding romance between Jessica and Trey was hard for me to accept. While opposites attract, I felt that the author was telling the reader and not showing the reader how their relationship developed.

Despite the negatives I described above, the solving of the crime was suspenseful and kept me reading. 3 out of 5 stars.

Night at the Belfry

James Ransom is 74, and a far cry from the tough young boxer he remembers from the 80's. Sick of growing increasingly powerless and reliant on others in his old age, James reconnects with a former trainer and hatches a possibly fatal plan to regain the control he believes he's lost. He plans on training for a final boxing match during which he hopes to die. His trainer is searching for the right opponent while James trains. In the meantime, James' daughter is constantly checking on him and wonders whether he should be living in an assisted living facility. James wants to avoid that possibility at all costs.

As I advance in age I find myself liking stories about seniors more and more. There is no reason to accept crappy behavior from the younger generations and our hero James finds an interesting way to become stronger. After getting mugged on a train by a kid he gets up early one day to see if he runs into the kid again. James sees him on the street and punches him in the face but gets injured in the process. The important idea here, in my opinion, is that he gets his revenge.

The artwork is beautiful and I liked the cool toned purple and blue palette. Xavior Saxon not only wrote this engaging story but he also did the artwork. Night is his first graphic novel and I am looking forward to seeing what he brings us in the future.

5 out of 5 stars.

The White Ship

I needed to find a book that had the color white in the title for the Color Coded Reading Challenge.  I found this history book by Charles Spencer that I thought would be good. However, I had a hard time becoming interested in it.

The publisher's summary:

The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king’s heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.

In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel – the White Ship – the medieval Titanic.

One review of the book states that it is just as gripping as a thriller. I beg to differ. The writing style is scholarly and while it tells a part of English history most of us are unfamiliar with, it was rather dull. The most excited I got was when I ran across a name of a direct ancestor here and there. I was expecting the book to be about a ship that sank at sea and wondered whether there would be some mystery concerning the sinking. The ship didn't sink until the halfway point in the story. 

The White Ship is a history book with a small section about a shipwreck. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Missing Girls of Alardyce House

The Missing Girls of Alardyce House is Heather Atkinson's first book in her Alardyce Trilogy. It takes place in Edinburgh during the Victorian Era and was published in June 2022. The second book in the trilogy was published in October 2022 and the third book will be published later in 2023. This is the first book of Atkinson's that I have read. I recognized her name when I selected the book but was not aware that she has published 50 novels. Wow! Why am I just getting around to reading her works?

The publisher's summary:

Edinburgh 1880. When Amy Osbourne’s parents are lost at sea, she is forced to leave her London home and is sent to live with her aunt and uncle at the opposite end of the country.

Alardyce House is depressing and dreary, her aunt haughty and cruel. Amy strikes up a friendship with her cousin Edward but his older brother Henry is just as conceited as his mother, and a mutual loathing develops between him and Amy. 

As her weeks of mourning pass, the realisation begins to dawn on Amy that her aunt has designs on her inheritance and the candidate she favours to be her niece’s husband fills Amy with horror. Struggling in this strange, unwelcoming environment, Amy begins to suspect that something isn’t right at Alardyce House. 

There are rumours below stairs of a monster on the loose, local women are being brutally attacked and her cousin Henry is the prime suspect. Alardyce House is full of dark secrets and Amy isn’t sure who she can trust…

The story is pretty fast paced for historical fiction. Amy's story dominates the book and the reader does not hear about any girls going missing from the house until the end so the title is misleading. The publisher's summary was also somewhat misleading. There is alot of sex, including rape, in the story but there are no graphic descriptions. We only read that it happens. If this would bother you, be on notice that you probably don't want to read the book. There is also physical and emotional abuse among the characters. Part of the mystery is figuring out who is abusing whom.

I thought the book was entertaining. The brutality that Amy experienced was something that women of the era were unfortunately subjected to so it seemed normal to me. 4 out of 5 stars.

Keeper of the Queen's Jewels

Adrienne Dillard has published four books to date, three of them historical fiction accounts of Jane Seymour, Catherine Carey (Anne Boleyn's niece) and Jane Boleyn.  Keeper of the Queen's Jewels is her most recent novel, which was published in 2022 and it is about Jane Seymour.

The publisher's summary:

Two women with opposing allegiances are bound together by desperate circumstances: one must birth a son to secure the throne. The other hides a dangerous secret that could cost them their lives. No longer the meek and mild, the ineffectual queen of the history books, Jane Seymour is reimagined as a woman on the precipice - one misplaced step away from oblivion. 

In the maid's dormitory, Margery Horsman struggles as she comes to terms with the fallout of her careless words, uttered recklessly in a fit of envy and greed, ending in the ruin and death of her first love. Surrounded, yet feeling alone and abandoned, Margery searches for her place in the world. When a young widower still grieving over the loss of his wife asks for her hand, Margery steps into a role she never imagined, that of mother to a half-orphaned boy.

As religious rebellion threatens to tear the country in two, fortune's wheel turns, and formerly rising stars of the Tudor court tumble. Amid the upheaval, a queen and her devoted maid will unite to preserve the legacy of Anne Boleyn for England's once and future queen:  Gloriana. 

Each chapter alternates between the points of view of Jane Seymour and Margery Horsman. Margery was one of the ladies in waiting for Anne Boleyn who stayed on at Henry VIII's behest after Anne's beheading. For some reason he kept on all of Anne's attendants. I can only presume that there were political reasons for this but the book doesn't go into it. At first Margery handled the wardrobe but later became in charge of the jewelry. She was adept at picking out the right jewels for the right gown. 

The characters were taken from real life. I was not familiar with them in depth, particularly Jane Seymour, and I learned alot about her political ability. Yes, she did have some ability. I was not aware that she was terrified of ending up like her predecessor but I probably should have known that she would be afraid. Any woman would mistrust Henry VIII considering how he disposed of two prior wives. The Tudor setting is always going to be exciting for me. I love reading about the dresses that the ladies wore, and the jewels of course, as well as descriptions of the food offered at feasts. 

Keeper has a nice take on often told stories of the wives of Henry VIII. With the perspective of someone with real power, the power of holding the jewels, the reader learns everything that that entails.

5 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #16

This is my first Can't Wait Wednesday post of 2023. There are two books which I want to showcase that I discovered last month from the Nonfiction Reader Challenge. The Bright Ages and The Light Ages are histories of the medieval era which is my favorite era in history. I am awaiting their arrival from Amazon.

The Light Ages is a history of medieval science. Author Seb Falk gives us this history through the eyes of a fourteenth century crusading astronomer monk, John of Westwyk. Westwyk was born in a rural manor, educated in a grand monastery and then exited to a clifftop priory. He navigated by the stars, cured diseases, and told time with an ancient astrolabe. During Westwyk's travels he encounters an English abbot with leprosy, a French craftsman and spy and a Persian polymath who founded the world's most advanced observatory.  The book kind of sounds similar to the travels of Marco Polo but with a scientific bent.

The Bright Ages is a new history of the medieval era.  I am not sure what is "new" but will soon find out. Advertised as a magisterial history, The Bright Ages captures this era from Europe to the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa. The publisher's summary of the book states that it will give the reader a fresh look on the Fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Crusades, and the Black Death, but also to the multi-religious experience of Iberia, the rise of Byzantium, and the genius of Hildegard and the power of queens. The burning of heretics is also covered and I am interested in this because I have 6 direct ancestors who were burned at the stake for their religious beliefs. 2 of them were Roman Catholic and the others were Protestants.

Whisper in the Night

I had never heard of D.K. Hood before buying Whisper in the Night. I was surprised to find out that she has published 19 novels to date with her 20th novel coming out in March 2023. All of her titles are from the Detectives Kane and Alton series which are serial killer thrillers featuring Sheriff Jenna Alton and her ex-special forces deputy Dave Kane. I loved Whisper so much that I am going to need to read every one of these 19 other books. It is hard to believe that I never discovered her before since she is such a prolific writer.

The publisher's summary:

Fifteen-year-old Lindy Rosen has been having nightmares for weeks, waking in a panic, screaming that there's a man in her room watching her sleep.  Her parents assumed it was her overactive imagination, but when one morning they find Lindy missing from her bedroom, they're not so sure.  Detective Jenna Alton is called to investigate.  Within hours of the schoolgirl going missing, the kidnapper reaches out to Jenna with a video of Lindy bound and tied to a chair, crying to be set free.  And a simple message - you've got 24 hours to find her or I'll kill her.  Jenna's team work around the clock to try to find Lindy before the deadline, but time runs out, and Jenna receives a devastating message. The killer has made good on his promise. He's playing a dangerous game  and no one knows what his next one will be.  But just two days later, one of Lindy's school friends is taken in the middle of the night and the countdown begins again. 

I loved this book! I was engaged from the first page and couldn't put the book down until I had read through it completely in one sitting. There was one issue that I have though.  Around page 60 Lindy's body is found. However, there was no build up from the police officers working a scene before it is announced that the body was found. The reader finds out when Jenna mentions it as a past event. I think this is a mistake, but only because I have never read a mystery where the discovery of the body is not fully developed. It should be essential to the rest of the story. The rest of the story was intense and fast paced and the ending resolved all of the questions concerning the crimes. Again, I take issue with how Jenna resolved the crime. She didn't. The killer appeared in her home and told her who he was and that she was going to be his next killing. Jenna had no idea who the serial killer was until he showed up in her kitchen. The killer conveniently spilled out answers to the who, how and why questions about his crime spree before being handcuffed. While the beginning and ending were a little unorthodox, Whisper is still a fantastic novel because of the intense suspense the author created.

4 out of 5 stars.

Death on the Danube

In Death on the Danube, recent divorcee Lana Hanson agrees to fill in as a tour guide for her friend Dotty Thompson's Wanderlust Tours business during a Christmas Eve conversation. Dotty wants Lana to travel to Budapest in order to lead a group after one of the guides was injured in a skiing accident. With no job and being 2 months behind in rent, Lana agrees to go. It's a perfect way for her to ring in the new year and also pay her rent. Upon arrival in Budapest, Hungary the tour quickly turns into a nightmare when Carl, Lana's fellow tour guide, is found floating in the Danube River. The question is whether he was murdered or died in an accident. With all of the tourists having had problems with Carl, Lana finds her self trapped with nine murder suspects. When another tour guest dies, Lana has to figure out who the killer is before she also ends up floating in the Danube River. Death on the Danube is the first book in the Travel Can Be Murder cozy mystery series by Jennifer Alderson.

I did not care for the book. The murder didn't happen until I was 60% in to the story. There was no investigation by Lana other than checking the internet to find out who her passengers were. She did not interview the passengers nor did she interface with Budapest law enforcement. She did nothing to solve the crime as I was promised by the publisher's summary of the book. The passenger's problems with Carl did not surface until after he was dead so there was no point to the novel. All I read about was the tour itinerary and how Lana felt as she was pampered by hotel staff.

This story was boring. No rating.

Night Shift

Night Shift is Robin Cook's 39th medical thriller. At 82 years of age he is still on staff at the Massachusetts Ear and Eye Infirmary in Boston. His first novel was published 46 years ago and I have enjoyed all but one, Intersection. He has had an incredible literary journey as well as a successful medical practice as an ophthalmologist.

The publisher's summary:  

Colleagues turned spouses, Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton already have their plates full with demanding forensic pathology work and family pressures. The last thing they need is the sudden death of a colleague. Yet when Laurie's apparently vital and healthy longtime friend Dr. Sue Passero dies mysteriously in the hospital parking garage, an autopsy is required, and it falls uncomfortably under Laurie's purview as the chief medical examiner. So when Laurie asked Jack to take special care with the case, he can hardly refuse.

With his curiosity sparked by an inconclusive autopsy, the indefatigable Jack is compelled to resolve the case at hand, and sets out to investigate on-site at Manhattan Memorial Hospital, even though it means blatantly defying the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's rules. What started out as an inquiry into Sue's tragic passing soon turns into a deadly and dangerous chess game between Jack and the clever and deranged killer, who might just administer another lethal blow if Jack isn't careful.

Night Shift is a first-rate story. With the story taking place within a two day period of time, the book has a supersonic pace that keeps you reading until it has been finished in one sitting. Cook's writing has not suffered with this long-standing series, while other authors seem to lose interest in their series and characters. What most likely keeps the series fresh for Cook is that the story always revolves around an issue or problem in medicine today. Cook does give the reader plenty of development with his characters but the main thrust of all of his novels is modern medicine. In Night Shift, the focus is on medical serial killers. 

I enjoyed revisiting the usual characters: Laurie, Jack, Vinnie who is Jack's assistant, and officer Lou Saldano. Vinnie and Lou are not central to this particular story. There are new characters such as the deceased Dr. Passero and her closest colleagues and they were interesting. Laurie and Jack's relationship has suffered since Laurie became his boss and, finally, he has asked her to step down. Laurie does not respond to the request in this installment of the series but perhaps she will think about it in the next novel. Jack has always been a little rough around the edges but it seems to me that he has become rougher since his wife became his boss.

The main problem for the story to resolve is to determine what killed Dr. Passero. Her autopsy showed that there was nothing wrong with her so Jack has to rely on information from those closest to her to come up with the reason that she was killed. He hears from a colleague that Dr. Passero was involved in hospital politics. Jack speaks with quite a few hospital staff before figuring it all out.

Night Shift is a superb entry for this series. 5 out of 5 stars.

2023 New Release Reading Challenge

I am rejoining the New Release Challenge this year.  It is an easy one for me as most of my book selections every year are new releases. I will be increasing my personal challenge by selecting the New Release Pro level of participation which requires that I read between 31 and 60 new release books. Won't you join me in this challenge?  Here are the rules:

• Books have to be released and reviewed in 2023

• Other challenges can be used as well, if you are participating in the Netgalley / Edelweiss challenge or in the COYER challenge, books can count towards more than one challenge, as long as the ones you use for the 2023 New Release Reading Challenge qualify to the other rules.

• The minimum length for a book to qualify is 100 pages, it can be in any format though, physical, e-book, ARC or audiobook.

• The New Release Challenge is open from January 1st through December 31st 2023, and sign-ups are open until September 1st 2023.

• You don’t have to be a blogger to participate, you can link to your review on Goodreads or Booklikes instead – so don’t be shy

• If you want to spread the love, please use #2023NewReleaseChallenge on Twitter 

There are five levels  in the 2023 New Release Challenge:

1. 1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie
2. 31-60 books per year – New Release Pro
3. 61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran
4. 101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast
5. 200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

To sign up, please link your sign-up post in the challenge post from the Unconventional Boookworms Blog.