Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

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Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum #30)Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Stephanie Plum #30
Publication Date: 10/31/23
Period: Contemporary Trenton, New Jersey
Number of Pages: 332

This quirky, entertaining, witty series is always good for bringing a smile to my face. This one had the zany stuff we usually see – firebombed apartments, car smashes, viewings at the funeral home, grave digging – all of it. Then, to add to it, the mystery in this one was more front-and-center than they usually are, and I liked that. Yes, the books can be silly – really silly – but there is something about the outlandish characters and bizarre crimes and situations that keep me wanting to read more. I love everything about the series except the love triangle between Morelli, Stephanie, and Ranger – it is okay on-page I guess, but if I were to know Stephanie in real life, I suspect I wouldn’t have much respect for her. More about that later…

There haven’t been too many bail-skips lately and Stephanie is running short of money. So, when a jewelry store owner who has recently been robbed wants to hire her to find the man he is sure robbed him, she agrees. The person she is hired to find is someone with whom she went to school – Andrew Manley, AKA Nutsy. Stephanie cannot imagine Nutsy doing what he is accused of doing and wants to know more, but then, there is a rash of bail skippers and she has to juggle finding them while she is also trying to find Nutsy and solve the jewelry theft. During all of that chaos, it seems Lula has either lost her mind totally, or she is being stalked by someone/something she has named Grendel (from Beowulf) because he is a tall, hairy, monster who sneaks into her room at night. How in the world will this can of worms ever get sorted? Insanely, of course!

Joseph Morelli, Stephanie’s mostly significant other is in Miami testifying at a trial, so he isn’t there to give her backup and support when she needs it. However, she isn’t without resources – definitely not. Ranger is there to step in and save her – loan her cars, give her a place to stay when her apartment is firebombed – coax her into his bed. The book ends with a cliffhanger (I hate cliffhangers) that, when resolved in the next book, will certainly change the course of the series, and the romance, and could perhaps, I guess, be the end of the series. It will be interesting to see where it goes and how the author handles it. For my two cents worth – Stephanie isn’t IN love with either of them – nor are they IN love with her. I think Stephanie loves each of them – and I think each of them loves her – but the IN LOVE, to me, just isn’t there for any of them. I like all of them and am not rooting for one man over the other because I don’t think either of them is just the right one for Stephanie. If one was the right man – Stephanie would have already made a choice instead of flip-flopping between them.

So, we had a nice wrap-up of the mystery and a cliffhanger along with lots of zany shenanigans. I had a smile on my face the whole way through and cannot wait to read the next installment to see the resolution to the cliffhanger.

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

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A Lark’s Flight by Lynn Messina

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

A Lark's Flight (Verity Lark Mysteries #2)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: A Verity Lark Mystery #2
Publication Date6/2/23
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 325

I enjoyed this interesting, fast-paced tale better than the first entry in the series. But I knew I would because that first book had to set up all the characters, the formats, the settings, and pay the proper amount of homage to the sister series, Beatrice Hyde-Clare while still managing to set up an interesting mystery. The first book seemed to fall a tad short in the mystery department and oversell in the sister series department. This book seems to have hit its stride with its many fewer mentions of ‘Her Outrageousness’ while still presenting an excellently delivered mystery. Oh! And lest I forget – Verity Lark meets – face to face – her half-brother – the Duke of Kesgrave. I think the author handled that part of the book wonderfully and left us all to guess what will happen next between brother and sister. We get a hint of what Kesgrave might want in the 11/3/23 release of A Murderous Tryst from the Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mystery series, but even that doesn’t tell us for sure. We’ll just have to put on our waiting shoes and pace the floors for a while.

In the first book, we met (and loved) Lord Colson Hardwicke, the disgraced son of a Marquess. Has he redeemed himself or was he never what people believed him to be? Verity was unsure at the end of the first book, so she’s still unsure at the beginning of this book, but she knows he intrigues her – and he challenges her. How dare he! Well, he didn’t realize it was a challenge, but Verity, being Verity, took it as a challenge and set off to beat him at his own game. Yes! You will definitely love both Verity and Hardwicke.

Northern England has seen much unrest among its population with the advent of the Luddites and people losing skilled jobs to machines. The upper echelons of the British government are afraid the unrest and insurrection are headed to London in the guise of the formerly peaceful Society of Yarwellian Philosophers and have placed a spy within the organization. Of course, the government being the government, they also placed a spy to spy on the spy. 😊 Who is Arnold Fitch? Is he a true patriot?

As one does, 😊 Verity is going about her normal information gathering and comes across the body of a man who has been stabbed to death, in his own bed, in a shabby rooming house. Hardwicke is in the room as well – but Verity is sure (isn’t she?) that he didn’t commit the murder. So, who did? Was it Arnold Fitch? If not him, who? There are lots of Yarwellians out there, would they murder a defenseless old man to protect their mission? Or, are those Yarwellians just exactly the peaceful society they claim?

Goodness, such excitement! You’ll be flipping pages as fast as you can read them to see what happens next. Then, Hardwicke disappears just when Verity has vital information to impart. Where can he be? How can she pass the information along to those who desperately need it? And what, in heaven’s name, is she supposed to do with the brother who has just knocked on her door? Enlist his help, of course.

This was such an engrossing, exciting, witty, and fun read! If you love intelligent, challenging, likable, and engaging characters along with a mystery that sucks you in, then you’ll enjoy this book. Happy Reading! Now, I just have to wait for what will seem like forever, for the next book to become available.

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