Month: November 2019

Deadly Kin by Lucinda Brant

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Historical Mystery, Yearly FavoritesLeave a comment

Deadly Kin: A Georgian Historical Mystery (Alec Halsey Mystery Book 4)Deadly Kin: A Georgian Historical Mystery by Lucinda Brant

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Alec Halsey Mystery #4
Publication Date: 11/15/19
Number of Pages: 414

We’ve had to wait sooooooo long for this book that I had begun to fear that we’d never see it. Four years is a long time between books in a series and I really wish I’d gone back and re-read the first three before I started this book. This one can certainly be read as a stand-alone, but the relationships between all of the characters are much richer to you if you’ve read them all. I understand that more books are planned for the series – thank goodness – and this book nicely sets up what I’m guessing will be the next book.

As with any Lucinda Brant book, the writing is excellent, the characters are fully developed and robust, and the research is impeccable. Happily, I learned something new in this book (and it is a large part of the focus of the book) – and the Author’s Notes section explains it very well. I have always thought that Primogeniture was the ONLY law dealing with succession, estates, inheritance, etc. – but that isn’t the case. One lone county, Kent, in England has a different law – Gavelkind. It is certainly different from Primogeniture and I can see where it would definitely take a huge bite out of a family’s wealth and soon leave them with nothing.

Alec Halsey, diplomat, husband, father-to-be and Marquess has come to his huge, sprawling, long-neglected estate in Kent, along with his wife Selina to await the birth of their first child. Alec inherited the vast estate about a year earlier when his brother was murdered. If it were up to Alec, he’d tear the pile down and build a new and modern structure with all of the updates and comforts of a newer home. However, Selina loves the old place and Alec will do anything to keep the love of his life happy. So, they are pouring boatloads of money into repairing, refurbishing and updating the old place. Both Selina and Alec are very anxious about the impending birth and having the estate to focus on gives them a bit of relief from the constant worry.

Alec very quickly gets more distractions than he knows what to do with – a boy goes missing and when his body is found they discover he was brutally murdered. Then, beneath a section where they were replacing the paving stones, they find a room that isn’t on any of the architectural drawings of the estate. Is it a crypt? What could a poor thirteen-year-old boy have done to be so brutally murdered? Alec has a lot more questions than answers, but he’s determined to solve ALL of the mysteries.

Alec quickly realizes that not all is as it seems at Deer Park and people have been keeping secrets from him as well as ignoring his orders. Chief among those secret keepers is his beloved uncle, Plantagenet Halsey. Why is his uncle thwarting his efforts and keeping secrets? Who murdered that poor boy they found and caused the death of yet another young boy?

If you’ve read the three earlier books, you probably had your suspicions about certain things. Well, you’ll find which suspicions were true and which weren’t. If you haven’t read the earlier books, you’ll still learn all about Alex’s early life and why his family cast him out. You’ll also learn a number of things about the Halsey family that weren’t even hinted at in earlier works – so new information for all of us there.

I thought that some of the revelations – especially with his uncle – drug out a bit too long. I was already very tired of it – and knew what it was going to be – long before it happened. There really wasn’t any reason for it to drag on that long and it had no bearing on the solution to the murder. I also wish we could have seen more of Selina this time around, but, she was ready to give birth at any second and couldn’t be out tromping around the countryside. Maybe we’ll get more of her in the next book.

I highly recommend this author, this book and this series. I can’t wait for the next one – and hopefully, it won’t be four years in the making.

His Sinful Touch by Candace Camp

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

His Sinful Touch (The Mad Morelands, #5)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Mad Morelands #5
Publication Date: 1/30/18
Number of Pages: 376

We’ve watched the boyish antics of Constantine (Con) and Alexander (Alex) over the first four books of the series – and now, they are all grown up and are getting books of their own. I love that we’ve gotten to see the lively, intelligent, rambunctious, inquisitive, and mischievous boys grow up and that we’ve been a party to their mischief. We’ve seen them with their menagerie of animals – from a parrot to a boa constrictor – and we’ve held our breaths as they’ve been kidnapped. Now, we get to watch them find their HEA’s – and that is an adventure as well! This book gives us Alex’s HEA and the next book, His Wicked Charm, will allow us to see Con’s HEA. Frankly, the first book I read in this series was Con’s, and I was so impressed – loved it so much – that I’ve gone back and read the entire series – in order. I have loved each and every book in the series.

Alex Moreland is now twenty-five years of age. He and his brother Con own a building in London where they each have their offices. Con has a detective agency (it was once his sister Olivia’s) and Alex is an architect. Alex and Con have a strong twin connection – they know what each other is thinking without actually speaking, they can sense when the other is in trouble, etc. Neither has ever had that connection with anyone else. However, Alex is having that anxious, restless feeling that he usually associates with Con having trouble of some sort. Except, he knows it can’t be Con because he was just speaking with Con who is setting out to do an investigation. As he ponders those feelings, while still in Con’s office, the feelings get more intense – so he steps outside the office and sees a man hurrying through the outer door – only – it isn’t a man. It is a woman dressed – very poorly – as a man – and she mistakes him for Con. When he encourages the misconception, she tells him her tale. She has absolutely no idea who she is and remembers nothing about her past. She knows she arrived in London on the train – and the hackney driver suggested Con’s agency as a good one for finding lost things – and she is lost. The only clue she has to herself is a locket with the name Sabrina and a date so she assumes that must be her name and her birthdate. If you’ve read the previous books, you know that the Morelands fall in love – fast, hard and forever – so you won’t be surprised to learn that Alex is already lost – he just doesn’t know it yet.

Sabrina has no idea who she is. She has no idea why she is in London. Does she live there? Nothing seems familiar. Was she meeting someone at the train station? Nobody approached her – but then she was dressed as a man. Why was she dressed that way? She has a knot on her head, bruises on her face, and bruises like fingerprints around her upper arm. How did she get them? She’s very anxious and fearful and is sure that she is running from someone, but she has no idea who it is. When the hackney driver recommends the Moreland Detective Agency to her, she readily asks him to take her there. When she meets the detective, she’s sure she knows him, but when he doesn’t recognize her, she assumes that she is mistaken.

Alex wonders if this isn’t an elaborate hoax designed by Con, but quickly decides that isn’t the case. With no place else to take her, he takes her to his parent’s home. Sabrina doesn’t realize she’s headed to the home of a Duke and once she discovers that, she isn’t inclined to stay there. Alex convinces her to meet his mother – and she quickly sets Sabrina at ease and insists she stay with them.

The investigation begins in earnest and, of course, that proximity draws them closer and closer. Each knows that they cannot act on any attraction because one of the things that was in Sabrina’s possession was a wedding ring. Is she married? Is she running from an abusive husband? Maybe it is just a keepsake from her mother or another beloved relative. Who knows?

Things get tense when the villains appear and try to lay claim to Sabrina, but Alex will protect her no matter what. Seeing them work together and thwart the villains was lovely and seeing Alex learn to use more of his special ‘gift’ was great.

I loved this book and I hope you will as well.

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