Elementary, She Read: A Sherlock Holmes Bookstory Mystery by Vicki Delany

Gemma Doyle, a transplanted Englishwoman, has returned to the quaint town of West London on Cape Cod to manage her Great Uncle Arthur's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. The shop--located at 222 Baker Street--specializes in the Holmes canon and pastiche.

When Gemma finds a rare and potentially valuable magazine containing the first Sherlock Homes story hidden in the bookshop, she and her friend Jayne (who runs the adjoining Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room) set off to find the owner, only to stumble upon a dead body.

The highly perceptive Gemma is the police’s first suspect, so she puts her consummate powers of deduction to work to clear her name, investigating a handsome rare books expert, the dead woman's suspiciously unmoved son, and a whole family of greedy characters desperate to cash in on their inheritance. But when Gemma and Jayne accidentally place themselves at a second murder scene, it's a race to uncover the truth before the detectives lock them up for good.

This mystery has a good mix of background, food and interesting characters. Next door to the Bookstore, we have Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room so prepare for mouth-watering descriptions. The luminous view of a water- front Restaurant adds to the blend, as does the hint of a past romance. 

We are led step by step through the passionate and at times frenzied world of Collectors. But would one of them actually have been desperate enough to commit murder...not once but twice for a rare object?

Gemma Holmes, an Englishwoman, cannot help but sense things. Like her Counterpart, Sherlock Holmes, she is good at following small clues... that no-one else would notice. When the Beeton's Christmas Annual is stuck on a shelf in her Bookshop...Gemma decides to track down the Owner. The red herrings in this story catapult Readers to a surprise ending and Murderer. But isn't that the way we like to shadow in our mysteries- fellow Sherlock's?

Vicki Delany does a great job at putting Holmes in this story. Her characters are a blend of amusing and eccentric. To give you an idea- the Cat's name is Moriarty. I could not wait to read this book as I am a huge fan of Conan Doyle and this cozy was a welcome addition to my Holmes- related Mysteries.

Murder Most Pekoe by Laura Childs

When Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is invited by  Doreen Briggs, one of Charleston’s most prominent hostesses, to a “Rat Tea,” she is understandably intrigued.  As servers dressed in rodent costumes and wearing white gloves offer elegant finger sandwiches and fine teas, Theo learns these parties date back to early twentieth-century Charleston, where the cream of society would sponsor so-called rat teas to promote city rodent control and better public health.

But this party goes from odd to chaotic when a fire starts at one of the tables and Doreen’s entrepreneur husband suddenly goes into convulsions and drops dead. Has his favorite orange pekoe tea been poisoned? Theo smells a rat.

Laura Childs, in her eighteenth book, continues her successful Tea Shop Series... with an added dollop of murder set in Charleston. The first Chapter sets the tone with a "Rat Tea" for a Murder. Who among the group of prominent Suspects had a motive? Theodosia Browning, ends up on a murder hunt, along with her staff member and friend, Drayton... at the request of the victim's wife.  She also runs a successful Tea Shop, which allows us to be treated to Child's wonderful research on Tea. Some of the scenes made my mouth water as I am a great Tea Lover. I suspect many who read this series fix their Teapot of leaves while they read.

The descriptions are lovely of Charleston and the roads that make up the historical district. I have in my mind's eye those same charming buildings while I read Child's very apt sketches.

But the heart of any mystery is the "who done it." Laura Child's is good at building the mystery- throwing in red herrings, so that at the end I was completely surprised. The pace is slow enough, so that if like me, you are a novice to the series, you can quickly pick up the thread of the characters.

This may have been the first book in the series I have read but it won't be the last.

Crooked Street: A Joanna Piercy police procedural (A Joanna Piercy Mystery)

Jadon Glover, the perfect Husband, did not return home one night.  His wife Eve, calls the police, but too often errant Husbands have run off or had one drink too many, so, the Police are not very concerned. He is a financial Manager with Johnston and Pickles the Officers are told... but when they start digging- he doesn’t work there! Nothing is known of his background or Parents. In short, he is as beige as the background in his perfect life. But then things start to unravel.

The Detective in charge of the case is a second wife.  D.I. Joanna Piercy and her Husband have no children together and his job is as stressful as hers.  They are struggling with the need to move...she to accept his Parents.  The death of a child in her Husbands job is heartrending to him and at one point he says, “he wishes he had something to come home to cuddle and love.” The bulk of our story though is the police work, fitted into a detailed investigation, which leads to a gritty, forensic find.

Priscilla Masters builds the mystery slowly. The layers are interwoven in her chapters... question by question and with a variety of clues. The comprehensive descriptions  threaded within the plot reveal a vendetta against the main character that she ties up successfully.  I sat reading until very late at night and I suspect you will too.

Strangers in Company by Jane Aiken Hodge

Jane Aiken Hodge was one of a series of Writers which included Mary Stewart, and Victoria Holt that wrote gothic suspense.  I devoured her books like “Maulever Hall” and “Watch the Wall, My Darling.”  When I came across a Book of Hodge’s I had not read I was delighted.  This is another Suspense that builds gradually and insidiously.  We don’t know who or what.. until the end.

Marian is hired to accompany Stella as they travel through the Greek Isles.  The Tour throws a group of Strangers together and then accidents begin to happen. Who can Marian trust?  She becomes worried for both herself and Stella.  To complicate matters Marian has become attracted to a classics Professor. This is a nice little mystery and just the type I am partial to.  Read it on a rainy night and let the tension build with each page.  Jane Aiken Hodge is good at that.

"Throughout her career, she wrote books set in what she called the borderland–that line between mystery and romance novel. In her last novels, her mysteries became thrillers. This invisible line–this borderland–made her “gothic romantic suspense” voice unique." (Wray, "Kiss And Thrill," Jan.22)

Judgement of Murder by C. S. Challinor

My Review:

Rex Graves is an Advocate at the English Court when the daughter of Lord Gordon Murgatroyd asks for his help. He is reluctant at first. Sentencing was  heavy-handed at Court by Lord Murgatroyd and behind his back he was referred to as Judge Murder. Many people respected him but even more hated him.  Now the old Judge has died but but was it a natural death or was it murder? 

Then things are missing from the house.  Odd things.  First  a stamp collection is gone according to the daughter but is she lying or really on the trail of something? Later... a latex fingertip, a pink slide are all found in the bedroom and examined for finger prints but the evidence is slight so the clues are building.

Ten years earlier a girl had been kidnapped and murdered on her way home from school.  But had the man convicted really been guilty?  And what did the second kidnapping of a teenager have to do with the Judge?

Rex and his friend Adrian pursue people and clues from London to Canterbury. They pour over events and interview witnesses. Bringing the right person to justice will depend on detail, luck and determination.

C.S. Challinor writes in the style of an English cozy.  She leads us on a trail... laced with red herrings galore. In many ways, the jailbirds tended to be the stronger characters, along with the dark descriptions of their past lives.  I love English Mysteries, so it was fun guessing how this would end. The pace is slow but with plenty of twists to keep you reading.


[A] winner . . . A must for cozy fans.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Satisfying . . . Smooth prose will keep cozy fans turning the pages.”—Publishers Weekly

“Will delight all cozy and Agatha Christie fans. C.S. creates devilishly complex characters keeping the reader on edge until the final page.”—Suspense Magazine

Code Breaker and Spy...

 Maggie Hope is assigned to MI5 on a manhunt for a killer who is recreating Jack the Ripper. But this time the girls are SOE Trainees who have come into London for an interview. Several of them were trained by Maggie and that makes it personal. As the body count rises so does the tension in each page.

The grey of London penetrates our main story set in fog and war, built around an evil, sadistic predator who loves torturing and killing women at a time when England is fighting for its very survival. The Book opens with a chilly night scene. An elderly ARP Warden is walking the streets to find any chink of light that might lead the enemy toward a point to bomb. She comes across a young woman neatly laid out but is struck in horror as she sees the organs cut from her body.

The landscape of London, burnt out and shelled, during a blackout is beautifully recreated and the chill is enough to make your teeth chatter. There is a wonderful intertwining of SOE Agents and a second story about Maggie's half-sister who is in a German Camp and has been tortured to the point of death. She is on the run after being picked up for deliverance. There is also help in the form of the Queen of England who owes our heroine a favor. Several characters are revisited from former Books but this story will stand alone.

Susan Elia MacNeal is a New York Times best selling Author who won the Barry Award and was nominated for the Edgar among others.  She does a wonderful job in her descriptions of the characters, with all their failings and death defying bravery, during the harsh times of War. One in which Women took on many of the roles including working in the SOE.  I found the book fascinating and I read it in one sitting. I could not put it down until I finished the last page.

A Memory of Muskets by Kathleen Ernst.

Kathleen Ernst writes a multi-layered story of different members of a family, over a hundred years apart, and those they are connected to in love and work. There are two mysteries occurring in the book.

Chloe Ellefson is a Curator at Old World Wisconsin planning a big Civil War event. She is a professional at work, while mentoring and working with staff, despite her Boss being a pain. At least her love life was fine until she felt bad energy about the Cabin that her boyfriend wants to make into her private space. Roelke had bought the family farm and Chloe is slowly moving her things in... as she finds out things about his Ancestors who built it. Things she may not want to tell him. But while she debates all this... they find the body of a reenactor and death suddenly seems very close. Add to that the shooting of another and all kinds of strange things start happening.

The Book is strong on the language and flavor of reenacting as it is also on the daily workings of a historic site. The Staff who work with collections, as well as events, are well developed. Ernst builds strength into the personalities and types of people who love history and participate in these type of recreation events. The Book moves slow but layers the different time frames well.

But to me the heart of the book is the love story set right before the Civil War. I found the German settlers, who entered this country at a time of Civil War, making life and death decisions about themselves... fascinating. Their loyalties gave a slant to history I had never thought about. Marriage was often built on practical reasons alone... not love. I found the ancestor research by Chloe added a lot of emotion to the story and had a strong mystery of its own.