Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Mydworth Mysteries – London Calling! by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Interwar Period (Nov 1918 - Sep 1939)Leave a comment

Mydworth Mysteries - London Calling! (A Cosy Historical Mystery Series Book 3)Mydworth Mysteries – London Calling! by Matthew Costello

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Mydworth Mysteries #3
Publication Date: 11/29/19

Another interesting mystery has now become a part of the Mydworth Mysteries series. This time, our intrepid investigators Kat Reilly and Sir Harry Mortimer are looking for a runaway girl – well, since she’s twenty-one, I guess she’s a runaway woman.

Lizzie Spence has been taking dancing lessons for years and years – and there is a talent agent who keeps telling her how good she is – he tells her she is a natural. The agent tells her that he can get her auditions and will set everything up for her – all she has to do it get to London for the auditions. Since Lizzie knows her parents would never approve, she decides to sneak off to London and leave her parents a note explaining.

“I’m running away from home, she thought. Me! Timid little Lizzie. Lizzie in the
corner, Lizzie head down, Lizzie never say “boo” to a goose? Nobody will believe
it!”

When they haven’t heard from Lizzie in several weeks, Glenys Spence, Lizzie’s mother, approached Nicola Green of the WVS (Women’s Voluntary Service) to ask for assistance in assuring that her daughter was safe. She’s not asking them to bring her home, just to assure that she is safe. Nicola, of course, asks Kat and Sir Harry to investigate.

Their investigation naturally begins in Mydworth at the dance class and rapidly shifts to London where they enlist the help of several friends – particularly Alfie who was Harry’s batman during the war. Alfie has many contacts – including many among the less than law-abiding citizens of London. Kat and Harry query their upper-crust friends while Alfie works his underworld contacts and it isn’t long before they realize what a mess Lizzy has gotten herself into.

It will take all of their wiles and a lot of skill and luck to rescue Lizzie. Can they do it? You’ll just have to read this fun tale for yourself to find out.

The book is filled with banter (like Nick and Nora Charles), quick wit, cunning and, of course, the romance between Sir Harry and Kat. I definitely recommend this book and this series.

The Courtesan’s Daughter and the Gentleman by Callie Hutton

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

The Courtesan's Daughter and the Gentleman (The Merry Misfits of Bath Book 2)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Merry Misfits of Bath #2
Publication Date: 12/17/2019

This is a romance that is intriguing from beginning to end. If you don’t absolutely fall in love with Carter Westbrook, you can’t possibly have a romantic bone in your body. Charlotte (Lottie) Danvers is just as admirable as Carter – meaning we have two very likable, very relatable, very charming people who are working toward their HEA. Carter is calm, steady, patient, and absolutely determined when it comes to something he wants – and he wants Lottie. Lottie is beautiful, smart, educated, graceful, sweet, caring, dedicated to her friends, and seems to become a klutz whenever Carter is around.

Charlotte was raised first by a lovely caring couple in the countryside of England and then at a boarding school outside Paris. Her mother wanted her to live outside London and not have to breathe the nasty air – and then, of course, she needed an education. Even when she’d finished her schooling, at her mother’s encouragement, she stayed on to teach at the school. During all of that, she and her mother managed to be very close. Her mother visited her regularly when she was in the countryside and twice a month when she was in France.

Charlotte decided to leave her position at the school and surprise her mother in London. However, when she arrived, unannounced, at her mother’s home in London, Charlotte is the one who got quite a surprise. Her whole world shattered when she learned the truth about her mother’s life. Charlotte left for Bath the very next day, changed her name to Lottie, and has remained there, estranged from her mother, for a year.

Lottie has shunned any social involvement during the year she’s been back in England because she is afraid someone will recognize her since she looks so much like her mother. She would love to go to assemblies, parties, etc. but she just can’t risk the exposure. She has to make an exception to that when one of her best friends is getting married in London. So, she dons a disguise (spectacles) and prays no one will make the connection between her and her mother. Sadly, she meets a man – the kind of man she could have loved if her circumstances were different.

Carter is attending his best friend’s wedding and is intrigued by the best friend of the bride. She is lovely, graceful and very standoffish. He is confident he can win her over – he’s never had a problem with ladies before. This one seems much more resistant than anyone else has ever been – but, he’s a patient man – he’ll win her over.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I hope you will as well. It was lovely to see these two lovely, deserving people find their HEA.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.