Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Tail of the Dragon by Connie Di Marco

Julia Bonatti, an Astrologer, goes back to work for a week with her old Boss, David. He is a lawyer. She reports to work for Secretarial duty and falls back into her old routine. Until... the whole floor hears a scream. Of course no-one expected to find the other Co-Partner stabbed. For several weeks Julia had thought of calling David because he had disturbing signs in his chart. This is about the time he and two more people got death threats. This is Book three in the Zodiac Mystery Series for Connie Di Marco. I had no problem following along and I don't think any other Reader will...

It's an unusual premise to have a "whodunit" built around Astrology. But I like it. There are many planets and adverse aspects in a Chart with a Client. Julia had been making a living at it, although, not a great one. There is a romantic interest in this mystery which is Julia's first, after the death of her fiancee ,who was murdered. The Killer has never been caught. That has a mystery attached to it but a photograph has surfaced. Will that help identify the car or the person driving?

The characters are integrated with a diverse crew which always adds to a Book. How else are we to start guessing who did it? This was a good read for a rainy night and I enjoyed it.

Blurb:

A rare astrological event could help San Francisco astrologer Julia Bonatti avoid a deadly destiny
Julia Bonatti loves the freedom of working for herself as a professional astrologer. But after receiving several unexpected bills, she considers a temp job offer from her old boss a stroke of luck too good to pass up.

On her first day, the posh law office becomes a crime scene when one of the partners is found dead. Julia discovers that a series of death threats have been sent to several employees of the firm, and she uses her astrological expertise to discover possible motives. But before she can convince the authorities of what she knows, the killer strikes again. Will Julia unmask the culprit before he, or she, takes another life?

Monday, August 6, 2018

The Prisoner in the Castle: A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal

Maggie Hope has been assigned to the Isle of Scarra, off the West coast of Scotland, with a group of other SOE Agents. They all are there because they know too much or have committed a transgression in training- like Camilla. The atmosphere is brooding at Killoch Castle, a Victorian hunting Lodge filled with hideous decor.

Years before the Owner of this Castle- Marcus Killoch, had hunted men like animals and performed unspeakable acts. He in turn was murdered, along with his hunting friends. Some say the ghosts were still there, along with the servants.

The Agents are all trained and bored, sitting out the war with their cigarettes and alcohol. Maggie explained it like this-broken, powerless, and trapped. D
eath returns to the Island, filling the scene with a déjà vu. The murder of the Officer, who is in charge of the facility, has set the zoo loose. Hysteria, rears its ugly head in Anna, one of the Agents, who believes the ghost of the former Owner-  has come back. Something is terribly wrong on Forbidden Island and suspicion builds with each page.

This is a tense story, loaded with atmosphere and murder. The characters are each filled with boredom, guilty secrets, tension and an occasional liaison. The conversation is witty, flippant and at times terrified among them, but, that makes for interesting reading. Who is the psychopath among them is the only unanswered question? I found the deaths reminiscent at times of Agatha Christie's, And Then There Were None.

An Island set in the west coast of Scotland, gray and remote, certainly added to the thriller aspect of this Mystery. I could smell the fear coming from the characters before the end of the book. Yet there is one more twist in store for the readers.This historical thriller rates Five Stars...

Blurb:
A series of baffling murders among a group of imprisoned agents threatens the outcome of World War II in this chilling mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Churchill’s Secretary.

World War II is raging, and former spy Maggie Hope knows too much.

She knows what the British government is willing to do to keep its secrets.

She knows the real location of the planned invasion of France.

She knows who’s lying. She knows who the double-crossers are. She knows exactly who is sending agents to their deaths.

These are the reasons Maggie is isolated on a remote Scottish island, in a prison known as Killoch Castle, out of contact with friends and family.

Then one of her fellow inmates drops dead in the middle of his after-dinner drink—and he’s only the first. As victims fall one by one, Maggie will have to call upon all her wits and skills to escape—not just certain death . . . but certain murder.

For what’s the most important thing Maggie Hope knows?

She must survive.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

A Gentleman's Murder by Christopher Huang

Christopher Huang, writes a mystery set in a brooding post -War London of 1924. It is the aftermath of World War I- still for most of the Soldiers. Lt. Eric Peterkin is an Officer, who has returned to England, and all the things he loves about it. He associated his Club with all the other Peterkin's who came before him- as well as his Father. He follows a code of honor that dwells on and would be expected by his family. The last place he expected a Murder was at his Club, the Britannia- catering to Gentlemen who fought. Why should the bet from one Officer to a new Member lead to death?

A large cast of Characters, revolve around the Britannia Club, allowing Lt Eric Peterkin quite a bit of scope in solving the mystery.  Then- a body is found buried in the Woods around a former Hospital for wounded, military men. It is that of a female and she died violently. This touch added a gothic moment to the Book which I liked. But this is a case where murder will continue and we can only wonder why.

The half -Chinese Character and his Sister allow for an unusual twist in the 1920's. However, it is the moody quality of the book touching on the scars, internally and externally of the returning men that add depth. Peterkin, is very like his Father, and determinedly carries on through prejudice, lies, interference,and a complex social- system that rules England during that period. I found the story an interesting twist and the strength of it Holmesian. I will continue on with the series and the next adventure. 

Blurb:
he year is 1924. The streets of St. James ring with jazz as Britain races forward into an age of peace and prosperity. London's back alleys, however, are filled with broken soldiers and still shadowed by the lingering horrors of the Great War.

Only a few years removed from the trenches of Flanders himself, Lieutenant Eric Peterkin has just been granted membership in the most prestigious soldiers-only club in London: The Britannia. But when a gentleman's wager ends with a member stabbed to death, the victim's last words echo in the Lieutenant's head: that he would "soon right a great wrong from the past."

Eric is certain that one of his fellow members is the murderer: but who? Captain Mortimer Wolf, the soldier's soldier thrice escaped from German custody? Second Lieutenant Oliver Saxon, the brilliant codebreaker? Or Captain Edward Aldershott, the steely club president whose Savile Row suits hide a frightening collision of mustard gas scars?

Eric's investigation will draw him far from the marbled halls of the Britannia, to the shadowy remains of a dilapidated war hospital and the heroin dens of Limehouse. And as the facade of gentlemenhood cracks, Eric faces a Matryoshka doll of murder, vice, and secrets pointing not only to the officers of his own club but the very investigator assigned by Scotland Yard.