bingeable series, mystery

Mystery series: Flavia de Luce

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Another Friday, another post about a series here on the blog, another new post title. Today’s series is the Flavia de Luce historical mystery series, inspired by the fact that I was writing about young detectives yesterday – and Flavia is about as young a detective as you can get, although this series is definitely for adults. I last wrote about Flavia in 2016 so it’s been a while…

At the start of the series, it’s 1950 and eleven year old Flavia has a passion for chemistry and poisons and a running feud with her two older sisters. Their mother is dead, their father eccentric and their house is crumbling around them. When Flavia stumbles over a dying man in the first book she is more fascinated than horrified and the series goes from there.

In my Goodreads review of the first book I said that Flavia could occasionally be a little too all knowing, but as the character develops, she gets to a good balance of preternaturally clever but not too all knowing and annoying. And a lot of that is because although she is very book smart, her understanding of people is about what you would expect of someone her age, so there are things – quite a lot of things sometimes – that she just misses or doesn’t understand at all.

There are ten novels in the series, and as there hasn’t been a new one since 2019, I suspect that may be the lot – certainly the last book in the series isn’t my favourite and Flavia was not quite her usual self in it, so it may be that Alan Bradley has got fed up of her or gone as far as he wants with her. Or the delay could just be because of the pandemic. Because we all know that covid has messed up a lot of things.

These are usually fairly easy to get hold of – I picked up a lot of them from The Works, and read the last two from the library, but I see them all the time in bookshops. As you can see from the picture, there has been a redesign/rejacketing exercise done – in my picture the right hand side are the original style, the left the new. And obviously they’re on Kindle and Kobo as well as audiobooks – most of them read by Sophie Aldred, who if you’re my age you will remember from children’s TV and if you’re a bit older will remember as Ace from Doctor Who. You’re probably best reading them in order, but I didn’t and it didn’t really bother me too much – although it was a bit of a pain jumping from slightly more developed Flavia back to the less evolved version!

Happy Weekend!

mystery, new releases, Young Adult

Out This Week: The Agathas!

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I actually read this one earlier this week so wanted to give it a mention today as depending on where you are it is either out today or in the last few days. The Agathas is a YA Murder mystery set in a California town where the citizens are divided between the haves and have nots. Alice is one of the haves, but after she went missing last summer after her boyfriend dumped her, her friends don’t want to know her. Iris doesn’t live in a mansion and her mum works in a bar. She’s been assigned to tutor Alice. Then Brooke, one of the popular girls who used to be Alice’s friends, disappears. Soon the two girls are investigating – Alice because her ex boyfriend is the main suspect and Iris, well because Brooke’s grandmas is offering a reward. Can they figure out what really happened the night that Brooke Donovan disappeared?

I really enjoyed this – it’s a twisty high school Murder mystery with an interestingly flawed cast of characters and a crime fighting duo who bring out interesting sides to each other. Also I’m so glad I’m not a teenager now and that I didn’t go to American high school. It sounds awful.

My copy came from NetGalley, but you can get it in Kindle or Kobo now or in paperback. And the good news is that it’s listed as the first in a series…

book round-ups, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: April Quick Reviews

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Taking break from Lost Heirs today for the quick reviews from April. I’ve already written about quite a few things from last month and it was a bit of a binge-y one again, so it’s not a hugely long post…

Bad Luck by Linwood Barclay

Zack is called up to the lake where his dad lives after a man is savaged by a bear. It’s not his dad, but his dad is hurt so he stays in town to help him. He soon discovers there’s more going on in the idyllic town than he realised – and that some of it is very dangerous indeed. This is the third book in the series but the first I’ve read and actually 15 plus years old. But it doesn’t feel dated – in fact a lot of the themes in it feel really quite eerily prescient. I enjoyed reading it and would happily read some of the others in the series (there are four in total) if they were to come my way – but given the state of the pile, I probably shouldn’t been looking for them!

The Start of Something by Miranda Dickinson*

This is a romance between two people who live opposite each other and start talking using messages in their windows. Both Lachlan and Bethan have a lot going in with their lives and the messages provide an escape from their every day lives and then starts to turn into something more. This had a little bit more angst/peril in both lead characters’ backstories than I am currently able to deal with, but I did like it. The blurb did signpost a bit of the backstory trauma – but in no way all of it, especially as a lot of the peril/drama in the book comes from the backstory not the romance. Speaking of romance, it is very slow burn on that front – I loved the notes in the window section and the cautious meetings – I could see an incoming Big Misunderstanding coming but when it did it worked really surprisingly well. Overall a nice read, if you’re in a place where you can cope with traumatic backstories on the way to your happily ever afters.

That Cowboy of Mine by Caitlin Crews*

I seem to have read more cowboy books in the last few months that in all of last year. This is a romantic suspense novel centred on a young woman who has inherited a ranch that someone is determined not to let her have and a newly retired rodeo rider who wakes up on her land after getting pass out drunk. It had a bit too much insta love and a huge amount of suspicion. I had most of the plot figured out early doors and the end was incredibly melodramatic but it was a nice easy way to pass a few hours.

Happy hump day!

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Count Your Lucky Stars

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Did I finish this on Monday? Yes. Am I breaking my rules? Absolutely. Is this perfect? No, but it’s a lot of fun and the issues I have will the last quarter are not uncommon. So this weeks BotW is Alexandria Bellefleur’s Count Your Lucky Stars

This is the third in the Written in the Stars series – which I’ve read two of now and have the first one waiting to be read at some point in the Misty future when I remember about it. Anyway, this is a second chance romance between Olivia and Margot, who were best friends in high school that turned into something more for a week and then… wasn’t. Now a decade later they meet again because Olivia is planning Margot’s best friend’s wedding. And then Margot accidentally offers Olivia somewhere to stay after Olivia’s apartment is flooded and then it all gets complicated.

Now as I said at the top, for 75 percent of this I was all in. A lot of Margot and Olivia’s issues could be solved by a proper conversation and they had that and I was looking forward to the big finish and then… they had another big misunderstanding/problem that could have been fixed by having a conversation but the author decided to make that impossible. And I get it, I do. You need tension and a final resolution, except that it sort of already felt like a final resolution had happened and I was wondering if the book was going to have a preview of another book as the final ten percent because it felt like it was wrapping up. But it wasn’t. And it still left a plot thread sort of hanging in the resolution. And I realise that now I sound like I didn’t like this, but I actually did. There is witty dialogue and a fun group of friends and an amusing cat. I just wanted them to have a conversation to sort stuff out!

Anyway, I know that usually I’m complaining about romances wrapping up too quickly and here I am sort of grousing about one that doesn’t do that, but hey, I’m allowed to be inconsistent. This is a fun contemporary romance with a nice group of central characters and a cat. What’s not to enjoy.

My copy came from the library, but it’s out now on Kindle and Kobo and in paperback – Foyles even have it in stock in some stores.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 25 – May 1

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A super busy week at work and quite a lot of rereading on the list instead of finishing the new stuff that I started. As I said yesterday, April very much the month of binge-rereads as that continues to be pretty much all my brain can cope with. I’m not sure what I can blame it on, but here’s hoping I get my act a bit in gear in May, as the NetGalley list is currently getting longer rather than shorter…

Read:

Death on the Ballerat Train by Kerry Greenwood

Worn by Sofi Thanhauser*

Bad Luck by Linwood Barclay

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

That Cowboy of Mine by Caitlin Crews*

The Chalet School and the Island by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Started:

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Ask a Historian by Greg Jenner

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare*

The Book Share by Phaedra Patrick*

Still reading:

Paper Lion by George Plimpton

Fire Court by Andrew Taylor*

Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor

The Fake Up by Justin Myers*

I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein

One bought, that’s it. Positively restrained.

Bonus photo: My attempt at repotting Fernando the Fern came to a bit of a tricky moment when I realised that I had underestimated how much compost the new pot would need and overestimated how much I have in stock!

An * next to a book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley

 

books, stats

April Stats

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Books read this month: 30*

New books: 14

Re-reads: 16 (9 audiobooks, 7 books)

Books from the to-read pile: 6

NetGalley books read: 4

Kindle Unlimited read: 1

Ebooks: 5

Library books: 5 (all ebooks)

Audiobooks: 9

Non-fiction books: 3

Favourite book this month: Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

Most read author: Ngaio Marsh – six audiobooks

Books bought: about ten, fairly evenly split between preorders and already out.

Books read in 2022: 133

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 633

Another binge-y month to be honest. Whether it was the Roderick Alleyn audiobooks or the continuing Sookie Stackhouse reread or the Phryne Fisher binge, the rereads outnumbered the new books and I’m actually ok about that! We’ll see what happens in May…

Bonus picture: I pass this house on my walk to the office and last week it was in bloom and looking lovely. My dad would tell me that the wisteria is probably undermining the foundations, but it looks so pretty. The rubbish on the street, less so obviously.

*Usually includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels, but for once it doesn’t this month!

books, literary fiction

Enchanted April

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It’s the last day of April, and as I mentioned yesterday it’s (early) May bank holiday weekend here which always makes me think that summer is on the way so I have a bonus book review for you today.

Enchanted April tells the story of four women who respond to an advert offering an Italian castle to rent for a month in April. They are very different and clash to start with but over the course of the holiday bond together. This was published in the 1920s – which as you all know is the absolute sweet spot for me in terms of twentieth century fiction. And it doesn’t hurt that my copy of it is one of those gorgeous Virago designer classic ones! It’s a slightly distressed rich people type story – the women would undoubtedly consider themselves ladies albeit it some of them ladies in reduced circumstances*

There’s a film of it from 1991, which I really need to try and watch – it’s got an interesting looking cast which includes Alfred Molina and Miranda Richardson and it got a trio of Oscar nominations too. A couple of years back there was The Enchanted August which took the premise of Enchanted April and moved it to modern day Maine which I enjoyed when I read it in 2016 – my notes from the time say “It’s not quite a rich people problems story – but it’s an escape from the daily struggles to an island and rediscover yourself and your relationships novel.” And we all know that another thing I love are rich people problems book – or things that are nearly rich people problem novels. So start with the original, but if you like Enchanted April there are options for you.

Cover of Enchanted August

And because I can’t resist an opportunity to quote from Peter Wimsey:

I said, ‘Really, Peter!’ but he said, Why shouldn’t he arrange continental trip for deserving couple? and posted off reservations to Miss Climpson, for benefit of tubercular accountant and wife in reduced circumstances. (Query: How does one reduce a circumstance?)

Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers
binge reads

Binge reads: Maine Clambake mysteries

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It’s a bank holiday weekend in the UK, so for my Friday post I thought I would recommend a series that you could binge on over the three day weekend!

Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake series focus on a small seaside community in Maine. Your detective is Julia Snowden, recently returned to her home town of Busman’s Harbor to try and save her family’s Clambake business. The family business is run on an island off the town and several of the mysteries are based there, others are in the town and wider surrounding area. Alongside the mysteries Julia finds out more about her family and the community and starts to build her life in the town.

There are nine books in the series with a tenth coming in the summer.

reading challenges

Lesser Spotted States request

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I’m making reasonable progress on the 50 states challenge this year, but there are some states that are always harder to tick off than others – so if you’ve read a good book set somewhere out of the ordinary in the USA – particularly if it’s mid western ones, then I want to know! There must be some more cozy crime series and romances that aren’t set on the coasts or in Texas surely…

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Lost Heirs part 1

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Inspired by the latest Veronica Speedwell, today’s Recommendsday is books featuring lost heirs. They’re a staple of the mystery and romance genres, which as you know are two of my favourites, so I’m splitting the recommendations up and I’ve still had to restrain myself!

And this week we’re starting with mystery novels – where lost heir plots tend to revolve around whether a mysterious or reappeared person is who they say they are or if they are a fake. It’s a think that actually happened in history – Perkin Warbeck for example – but I’m mystery novels it’s usually an inheritance rather than a crown that the possible pretender is about to come into. It’s not a plot you can really do in the age of DNA, or at least it requires some creativity. So let’s start with a Golden Age Classic – Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar. In it a man called Brat Farrar appears and claims to be Patrick Ashby, the eldest son of the Ashby family who disappeared when he was 13 and thought to have drowned. He knows Patrick’s mannerisms and the story of his early life and it seems like he may pull it off, until secrets start to emerge…

Sweet Danger is my favourite of all the Albert Campion books (I think), and I listen to the audiobook or read it at least once a the year. In it Albert is trying to find the lost heir to a tiny Balkan principality and meets the family who claim they’re the rightful heirs. There’s also a ruthless crime Lord, witchcraft and the start of a romantic strand in the series – which I promise is not the main reason I like it! It’s actually a really good adventure caper as well as a mystery – and there’s no actual murder. You could also probably make a case that Agatha Christie’s Nemesis is a lost heir book in a way as well – as the mystery that Miss Marple is trying to solve is whether a a deceased millionaire’s son murdered a young woman or not – the son in question having disappeared.

Most historical mystery series will do a lost heir – or variation thereon at some point. In the Phryne Fisher series it happens fairly early on in the series – within the first half dozen in fact – and as the blurb is a little bit cryptic about it I shall be too, but you can probably work it out. The Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series has one relatively early on too – Justice Hall – the sixth in the series but really to appreciate it you need to have read the previous book O Jerusalem too, and they work really well back to back. In the Daisy Dalrymple books it happens much later in the series – Heirs of the Body is the 21st mystery (out of 23) and the whole plot revolves around finding which of four options is the heir to the viscountcy in Daisy’s family.

I’m fairly sure there are more of them that I’ve forgotten about – I’ve been mulling it over before I fall asleep at night and I’m fairly sure I haven’t remembered all the options I came up with, but that’s always the way with things that come to you as you drop off to sleep! But as I said, I have another post planned, and even if it’s meant to be all romances, I can always throw a mystery in if I remember something amazing…

Happy Wednesday