A Death in Cornwall

A Death in Cornwall is the 27th installment of the Gabriel Allon spy thriller series but just the 5th to be set in Cornwall. Many years ago he spent time in the region following the murder of his first family. It was here that he met a boy named Timothy Peel. Peel, now grown, now works as a detective sergeant with the Devon and Cornwall Police Department.

The publisher's summary:

Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into London to attend a reception at the Courtauld Gallery celebrating the return of a stolen self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh. But when an old friend from the Devon and Cornwall Police seeks his help with a baffling murder investigation, he finds himself pursuing a powerful and dangerous new adversary.

The victim is Charlotte Blake, a celebrated professor of art history from Oxford who spends her weekends in the same seaside village where Gabriel once lived under an assumed identity. Her murder appears to be the work of a diabolical serial killer who has been terrorizing the Cornish countryside. But there are a number of telltale inconsistencies, including a missing mobile phone. And then there is the mysterious three-letter cypher she left behind on a notepad in her study.

Gabriel soon discovers that Professor Blake was searching for a looted Picasso worth more than a $100 million, and he takes up the chase for the painting as only he can—with six Impressionist canvases forged by his own hand and an unlikely team of operatives that includes a world-famous violinist, a beautiful master thief, and a lethal contract killer turned British spy. The result is a stylish and wildly entertaining mystery that moves at lightning speed from the cliffs of Cornwall to the enchanted island of Corsica and, finally, to a breathtaking climax on the very doorstep of 10 Downing Street.

The plot in A Death in Cornwall is a significant improvement over the 2023 installment of the series. The author, Dan Silva, has now successfully transferred Israeli spy Gabriel Allon's career to working as a full-time art restorer. As such, this plot concerns artistic provenance research (APR). One of the best in the business was Charlotte Blake who was murdered with an axe. The police believe that it was the work of a serial killer known as "the Chopper" but some of them aren't sure. As Gabriel searches for a lost painting that Blake was researching, he uses his spy craft skills to deter the international financial machinations through which the rich use shell companies to hide money. 

I love reading this series. The books are always a quick read with more than the usual twists and turns than you would find in other thrillers. The author certainly knows politics well and always gives the reader something new to think about. However, if you have never read one of these mysteries you probably do not want to start with A Death in Cornwall since it refers to past events. Many of the series characters in past novels are not involved in this novel. Allon's wife Chiara does not have much of a part in this book but that makes me happy. I never liked her character much.

A Death in Cornwall is a fantastic book. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Wartime Book Club

I selected The Wartime Book Club for last month's Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge.  It is a historical fiction account that was inspired by true events.  You can read about those events at the end of the book where you will also find study questions and a bibliography concerning the island of Jersey where the setting of the book is located.

The publisher's summary:

The Isle of Jersey was once a warm and neighborly community, but in 1943, German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule. Nazis have ordered Grace La Mottée, the island's only librarian, to destroy books that threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, she wants to fight back. So she forms the Wartime Book Club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading. But as the occupation drags on, the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous – and more important – than ever before. And when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance.

 

I LOVED this novel!  I was unable to put it down and read it in one setting. I was hooked from the first chapter. The story was so intriguing that I was interested even though the wartime library did not appear until one third of the way into the story. The two main characters, Bea and Grace, friendship was pretty compelling and how they made decisions became a part of what happened later in the story.  These ladies were complete opposites but best friends and they were able to let each other be who they were and forgive easily any slights that they felt. In this sense, the story is about friendship and loyalty.

I don't enjoy WWII books much but this one was about those left behind from soldiers.  It did not have any military action. The story was about how a community stuck together during the occupation of their island. While there were a few who turned in their neighbors to the Nazis in order to obtain additional food, most of the residents helped each other out as much as they could. Each chapter began with the name of a banned book and why it was banned. The story shows the importance of these banned books to Jersey residents and the reader sees how Grace was able to deliver these books to residents without getting caught by the Nazi occupiers. Grace's heroism is the main theme of the plot. A secondary plot concerns her friend Bea. Bea made many mistakes and did not take care to hide what she was doing. She was impulsive and that got her into more than one fix.

Author Kate Thompson did several years of research into the Channel Islands during WWII. The details in her story are indicative of this. In addition, there are about 100 pages of history, bibliography, and study questions to ponder at the end of the story. I found these details equally as intriguing as the story. Since I love history, I appreciate all of this information.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: July

Recently I found out about the publication of a new China Bayles mystery novel. I immediately obtained a copy. In this installment of the series, the author has focused on the coffee bean because it helps with memory and the title is about not forgetting. I loved reading the little known facts about coffee and caffeine such as the fragrance of coffee comes from over 800 aromas. The darker the roast of the bean, the easier it is to detect them by scent. The story was engaging and I enjoy the light reading experience that the author gives the reader. I read alot of books on serious topics so when I see a new novel by a favorite cozy author, I know to savor the experience. Forget Me Never did not disappoint.

China Bayles is a former attorney who runs an herb and catering business. Her best friend Ruby is a clairvoyant but also her business partner. Ruby's psychic abilities are showcased in this story. This novel had more twists than we usually see from Albert, most likely because China had three murders to solve. It was a fun and relaxing read!

Five of my favorite authors will be publishing new novels next month. I am excited for my August reads.

Book cover of the Month: July

Forget Me Never by Susan Wittig Albert is my best book cover for this month. It has one of my favorite color combinations, blue and yellow. In this 29th installment of the China Bayles series, the author has focused on the coffee bean because it helps with memory and the title is about not forgetting. In 2019 the author started self-publishing under her own imprint, Persevero Press. She subcontracts out the cover art design and I have been unable to determine who the designer is. 

An attractive book cover determines whether your book sells. The average consumer spends just eight seconds looking at the front cover and no more than fifteen seconds looking at the back. The average national buyer takes even less time than that to make a decision about the number of copies he or she will buy. Good covers don’t guarantee big sales, but bad covers can kill projects. I am always immediately attracted to any book cover with bright covers. Since I love this author I was going to buy the book regardless of the cover. If I was not familiar with her, I would have picked up the book at my local bookseller and taken a closer look at it.

Seven Up

I selected this book for the Clock Reading Challenge. The Challenge Rules require a number from 1 through 12 in the title. The book is 7th out of 31 in the author's Stephanie Plum series. It was published in 2002. 

The publisher's summary:

Semiretired mob guy Eddie DeCooch is caught trafficking contraband cigarettes through Trenton, New Jersey. When DeCooch fails to show for a court appearance, bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum is assigned the task of finding him and dragging his decrepit ass back to jail. Not such an easy job, it turns out, since DeCooch has learned a lot of tricks over the years and isn't afraid to use his gun. He's already shot Loretta Ricci, an innocent old lady, and left her for worm food in his shed. He wouldn't mind shooting Stephanie next.

Likeable losers (and Steph's former high school classmates) Walter "MoonMan" Dunphy and Dougie "The Dealer" Kruper have inadvertently become involved with DeCooch. They've gotten sucked into an operation that is much more than simple cigarette smuggling and holds risks far greater than anyone could have imagined.

When Dougie disappears, Steph goes into search mode. When Mooner disappears, she calls in the heavy artillery and asks master bounty hunter Ranger for help. Ranger's price for the job? One night with Stephanie, dusk to dawn. Not information she wants to share with her sometime live-in roommate, vice cop Joe Morelli,

A typical dilemma in the world of Plum.

And on the homefront, Stephanie's "perfect" sister, Valerie, has decided to move back to Trenton, bringing her two kids from hell with her. Grandma Mazur is asking questions about being a lesbian, and Bob, the bulimic dog, is eating everything in sight--including the furniture.

What struck me the most about the book was all of the slang terms that the author used that I have not heard since the 1960s. The author uses "rat fink" and "fatso" in several places. I remember saying to friends mockingly "you're a dirty rat fink." It was a phrase used by comedians of the 1960s and kids were frequently saying this on the playground. The author, Janet Evanovich, must be the same age as I am. People from other eras would not know these words.  The plot itself was light on action but heavy on the comedy. I found it difficult to maintain interest in the story because there were so many funny statements. The resolution of the mystery of the death of Loretta Ricci and the disappearance of DeCooch took a long time to solve. Our protagonist Stephanie Plum spent more time saying her zingers than doing her job.

While it has been many years since I read one of Evanovich's books, I don't remember them being funny. Reviews that I have read of her works all state that she writes funny cozy mysteries. Perhaps this is why I stopped reading her series. I am rating the. book 3 stars out of 5.

Can't Wait Wednesday #32

Agony in Amethyst is the 5th installment of the Harriet Gordon cozy mystery series. The series takes place in Singapore during the 1920s. It will be published later this year in October. When the 4th installment came out last year the author announced that it would be the last novel in the series. I love this series so I am thrilled that there is another book to read.

Per the publisher, our protagonist Harriet Gordon faces uncertainty in her budding relationship with Robert Curran, who has just returned from months in Kuala Lumpur. Curran's expected promotion turns sour when the position is given to an old adversary from his Scotland Yard days. The arrival of the Colonial foreign secretary, Sir Henry Cunningham, revives memories of one of Curran's unresolved cases. The death of a schoolgirl at a lavish ball, hosted by the Governor in honour of the visitor, brings Curran into direct conflict with his new superior officer. When he confides his suspicions to Harriet, she inadvertently betrays his trust, threatening his already shaky career.

October seems so far away! I cannot wait to get hands hands on this book.

Knee High by the Fourth of July

This book is my selection for the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge. I needed a book about 4th of July and was lucky to find this one. The book is the third in a series of holiday themed stories. It was published in 2007. 

The publisher's summary:

What's so wrong with admiring from a distance? Mira's quirky puppy love for Chief Wenonga, a well-muscled fiberglass statue in her Minnesota small town, might be a safer love pursuit than online dating. But when the 23-foot Chief goes missing from his cement base, Mira's not the only citizen to be crushed. The town of Battle Lake is celebrating their statue's 25th anniversary and no amount of blue, sugar-soaked popcorn balls at Wenonga Days can uplift their gloomy mood. 

But when Mira runs into a dead body, the town has more pressing issues. Mira's second biggest crush, organic gardening god and dead ringer for Brad Pitt-Johnny Leeson-has disappeared. Her luck with men is running out, and a killer might be moving in. With something of her own to hide, Mira hopes she can avoid the police long enough to track down the object of her mega-crush-but is Mira trailing a statue-thief, a kidnapper, or a murderer?

 

This was an OK novel. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It's more of a three stars out of five book. The main character Mira is funny and super smart. However, I didn't think her desire to participate in online dating was a good decision. It can be dangerous. Yes, I am placing my values on a character. While the online dating provided a few suspects to the murder, it didn't connect with me as well as if all of the suspects were from Battle Lake.

I am pretty picky about the cozy mysteries that I read. I only read a few cozy authors consistently and, perhaps, author Lourey is just one of them that I don't want to continue reading. I hate to bash a book when the genre, or rather sub-genre, is not my cup of tea. 

As I stated above, this book is part of a series. The characters are the same throughout the series so we can expect to read more about Mira's exploits. If you enjoyed this book, please let me know your thoughts.

Apologies for the formatting. I couldn't fix it without tearing my hair out.

Songs For the Broken Hearted

 

I was lucky to receive an advanced review copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on September 10, 2024. The story is about a young Yemeni Israeli woman who learns of her mother’s secret romance through lost family stories. It is the author's debut novel. 

The publisher's summary:

1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man.

1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing that her skin was lighter, that her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music was quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket.

Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed the story. It is heavy on culture but light on action. Knowing nothing about the Yemeni culture, I  found it impossible to pick up on the cues the author gave. There were many, many of these cultural cues for characters who were American, Israeli and Yemeni. I could not keep them straight. I must wonder, though, if the translation is the reason I was unable to become interested in the story. 

The characters, too, had difficulty communicating with each other. Everyone seemed to be estranged from each other. They were a dull lot. There was a lot of information on Yemeni songs and poetry which I normally would enjoy but for some reason, bored me. I cannot quite finger the exact reason for my disconnect with the book, but suffice to say that because I received it from Net Galley, I read the entire book. It is my practice to stop reading a novel if I cannot become interested by page fifty. I have done my duty.

1 out of 5 stars.

Forget Me Never

Forget Me Never was just published last month on June 4, 2024. It is the newest installment of Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles Mysteries and is the 28th installment of the series. As expected, it is a fun and relaxing read. 

The publisher's summary:

Olivia Andrews is locally famous for her blog and podcast, “Forget Me Not: A Crime Victim’s Storyboard,” which is dedicated to telling the stories of victims of crime. Now, she has a stunning story to tell about a decades-old murder mystery involving a prominent citizen of Pecan Springs—someone who isn’t the man everybody thinks he is. But she is killed by a hit-and-run driver while she’s out jogging early one morning. Was it an accident—or something else? Her sister wants to know.

And Olivia’s friend China Bayles also wants to know, urgently. Who is the prominent citizen Olivia was about to expose? How did he manage to get away with murder twenty years ago? Did he kill Olivia to keep her from revealing his secret? What is local lawyer Charlie Lipman trying to hide? And when there’s another murder . . . well, it has to be a part of the same story, doesn’t it? And so does the scrapbook a cousin has compiled to honor the memory of one of the victims and make sure she won’t be forgotten. It might hold the answer—except that the one person whose face China wants to see has been scissored out of every photo.

What I love about this series is that once you start reading you don't notice how far into the story you have read until about halfway through it. The first person narrative as well as China's personality keep you reading without even noticing the time.  This series always focuses on an herb with chapter intros giving a factoid about that particular herb.  In this novel, the author has focuses on the coffee bean because it helps with memory and the title is about not forgetting.  I loved reading the little known facts about coffee and caffeine such as the fragrance of coffee comes from over 800 aromas.  The darker the roast of the bean, the easier it is to detect them by scent. Rosemary is another memory enhancing herb that was featured.

The setting is a small town in Texas called Pecan Springs. China's narrative comes from her Texan heritage with plenty of southern colloquialisms.  The characters all reflect this heritage but each are unique.  China is a former attorney who runs an herb and catering business. Her best friend Ruby is a clairvoyant but also her business partner.  Ruby's psychic abilities are showcased in the story. The author mentioned that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling lived nearby in the River Oaks community before he went to prison and that Senator Ted Cruz also lived there. I found it amusing and liked that she made them a part of the setting.

A new character, Olivia Andrews, is detailed from what people have said about her after her demise.  She was killed early on from a hit and run "accident."  Olivia is an interesting character.  She is a former journalist who had been writing a true crime blog and podcast. The crimes that she featured on her blog were taken from obscurity but she brought them back to life with her unique way of thinking. Secondary characters such as China's husband and the friendly local police chief were not involved in the investigation and were barely mentioned in the book. Police Chief Sheila Dawson's contribution to the story dealt only with how she was handling being a new mother.  Sheila's new life as a mother is the only character growth in the book but we only read these great stories from Susan Wittig Albert for her ability to write a fun mystery.  This one had more twists than we usually see from Albert, most likely because China had three murders to solve.

Forget Me Never is a fun and fast read. Cozy fans will want to read it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: June

I absolutely adored The Champagne Letters! It is a historical fiction account of the life of Barbe-Nicol Clicquot, the founder of the Veuve Clicquot champagne label. It also happens to be my favorite champagne.  I was lucky to receive an advanced review copy from Net Galley. The book will be published on December 10, 2024. 

The publisher's summary says it best:

Reims, France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her beloved husband but is determined to pursue their dream of creating the premier champagne house in France, now named for her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. With the Russians poised to invade, competitors fighting for her customers, and the Napoleonic court politics complicating matters she must set herself apart quickly and permanently if she, and her business, are to survive.

In present day Chicago, broken from her divorce, Natalie Taylor runs away to Paris. In a book stall by the Seine, Natalie finds a collection of the Widow Clicquot’s published letters and uses them as inspiration to step out of her comfort zone and create a new, empowered life for herself. But when her Parisian escape takes a shocking and unexpected turn, she’s forced to make a choice. Should she accept her losses and return home, or fight for the future she’s only dreamed about? What would the widow do?

The story has a dual timeline and perspective. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot lived during the 1800s in France and Natalie, her descendant, lives in the present era in Chicago. Each chapter alternates between their life stories. I have found in the past that when there are dual narratives, one seems to be much better than the other.  Here we have two equally compelling narratives. When one chapter ended, I groaned because it was ending. However, when the next chapter ended I groaned again.  

I believe that the book is going to be one of my top ten books of the year. It's a shame that the publication date is so far out because no one will be able to read it until after the second week of December. With holiday parties and such, readers may not have a chance to pick this one up until some time in 2025. I promise that the book will be worth the wait.

Fragile Designs

I purchased a Kindle copy of Fragile Designs earlier in the year. I never got around to reading it until recently. Fortunately for me, it works for the Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge this month.  It was published on January 2, 2024.

The publisher's summary:

There’s only one thing more dangerous than family secrets.

Since her police-officer husband Eric’s mysterious murder, Carly Harris has been struggling to support herself and their infant son. Her career as an antique dealer isn’t sustainable, nor is her dream of becoming a novelist. So when her grandmother proposes she and her two sisters restore the family’s large Beaufort home and turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, she immediately gets to work clearing out the house. In the process, she uncovers a family secret that Eric kept hidden. And an heirloom that the wrong person wouldn’t hesitate to kill for.

Homicide detective Lucas Bennett isn’t his neighbor’s biggest fan, not since she broke his brother’s heart years ago. But when Carly turns to Lucas for help, believing she’s found a lost Fabergé egg that would be worth millions and that could put her family’s lives in danger, he can’t help but get involved. Soon, they’re entangled in a mystery with threads that lead all the way to the Russian mafia. Lucas has gotten in deep, and while he trusts his ability to keep Carly and her family safe, he begins to realize he’s vulnerable to an unexpected kind of danger. And he’s helpless to stop the freefall. As they continue working closely together, Carly and Lucas realize they may have found something more precious than gold. Yet it’s only a matter of time before Carly—or, worse, someone she loves—gets hurt.

I LOVED this story. I was unable to put it down until I finished reading. With a gripping start, the quick pace was maintained throughout the book. Several murders took place in the beginning that were later found to be connected but the connections were not revealed until the end.

Some papers and a gem were discovered by Carly as she went through her grandmother's chest. The papers revealed that Grandma had been adopted and that she had a twin. This was news to Grandma. Carly also found a toy that had been painted red. After cleaning it up, a gleaming white object was revealed. While she wondered if it was a Faberge egg that had been missing for decades, law enforcement was skeptical. However, neighbor Lucas, a police officer, is given two weeks by his boss to follow these leads. Unfortunately, every time he visits anyone who might be able to help him he finds their dead bodies. Lucas has also been searching for Grandma's twin. The twin has a common surname and finding the right person won't be easy.

Halfway through the novel we discover that Carly's husband Eric, a deceased police officer, had been unfaithful. He had gotten a neighbor pregnant. The neighbor gave birth to a daughter just six weeks before Carly had Noah. I thought he was a saint up until this point. Scum! Eric knew that there was a valuable Faberge egg in his attic but whether he told anyone else was unknown until the end of the story.

Fragile Designs was a fabulous story. While it is a contemporary romance story it is also Christian fiction. I highly recommend the book to cozy, mystery and Christian fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

Six Days Spent

I selected this book for the Clock Reading Challenge.  For this challenge I need to pick books with the numbers 1 through 12 in the title.  I am supposed to impose the book cover onto a clock face where the corresponding numbers are placed.  When I figure that out, I will post an image.

Six Days Spent is the 6th installment of Luana Ehrlich's Mylas Grey mystery series. The story opens when private investigator Mylas Grey gets a call from the wife of a high-profile Pentagon official. He assumes that it’s about their appointment with him to discuss a possible stalker. It’s not. It’s about her husband who has just been murdered. Mylas agrees to investigate the murder. When Mylas discovers that he has two viable suspects, he’s forced to spend several days piecing together the evidence to unmask the real killer. Installment 6 of the Mylas Grey Mystery Series is a clean, faith-filled mystery, filled with unforeseen decisions, intriguing suspects, and romance.

During the first half of 2024 I have read 12 of Erhlich's novels. They come from 2 different series. To say that I need a break is an understatement. It has been difficult to write reviews because I cannot come up with anything new to talk about. Yes, I enjoyed them but they all seem so similar. Next month I will begin reading a few of Janet Evanovich's novels for the clock challenge.

Six Days Spent has a simple plot. There are no huge surprises or plot twists. Character development is prominent. We see Mylas and his girlfriend Whitney moving toward a further commitment. We see as well how Mylas leans on God on a daily basis and waits to hear from Him on what he should do in any given situation. 

This was a short but sweet story.  I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Comfort of Ghosts

The Comfort of Ghosts was published a few days ago on June 4, 2024. It is the final installment of the Maisie Dobbs series. I thought the pace was a little slow for my taste but the story was enjoyable nonetheless.  

The publisher's summary:

London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

It's a shame that I began reading the series with the final book because I liked it enough to want to read more. In fact, I most likely will at least read the first couple of books in the series. There are three mysteries that need to be resolved in the story: did a controversial landowner die by murder or suicide, what happened to the four teenage  squatters, and whether a decades-old adoption could be successfully traced. The pace was slow and I was tempted to skip pages. However, I would have missed key resolutions concerning character relationships had I done so. I am glad that I continued reading because the characters were charming examples of the typical Englishmen that I am used to seeing from British authors. I loved the British setting and learned alot about the post WWII life for the Londoners who basically had to rebuild many parts of their city.  Of course, those quirky characters say much about this country too.

A relaxing read. 3 out of 5 stars.