Category: Historical Mystery

The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, George V - 1910- 1936, Historical Mystery, Interwar Period (Nov 1918 - Sep 1939), Part of a SeriesLeave a comment

The Proof of the Pudding (Her Royal Spyness #17)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Her Royal Spyness #17
Publication Date: 11/7/23
Period: 1936 -Interwar England
Number of Pages: 304

The books in this series are always delightfully entertaining, filled with eccentric, unique, and unforgettable characters, and there is always a head-scratching mystery to go along with all of that. This time around, we even have a character who seems perfect for a book that is released so close to Halloween! We do, of course, have some wonderful cameo appearances by famous people of the time – such as author Agatha Christie and film star Laurence Olivier.

Georgie may be the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the 35th in line to the throne, but she and her dashing husband Darcy are poor as church mice. With their first child due within a few weeks, they are confined to Eynsleigh, the estate on which they live. They are immensely grateful to Sir Hubert, Georgie’s Godfather, who has requested they live at Eynsleigh and see to its care – and part of that care is to see to its staffing, mainly acquiring a chef who can cook for gatherings. That chef – a FRENCH chef – is on his way and they cannot wait for a decent meal.

The trouble all began when Sir Hubert wanted to have a dinner party to show off Chef Pierre’s skills. And goodness, did he have some skills! Attending the dinner party was the gothic author Sir Mordred Mortimer, a long, thin man with long silver hair. Sir Mortimer loved the meal and wanted to borrow Chef Pierre to cook for a charity dinner he was hosting. Yep – dark, dreary home – a host who could be Dracula – and a poison garden – what could go wrong there?

After the charity dinner, several people sickened – and one died. The police – and everyone else – blame Chef Pierre. He is an easy target – especially since he speaks very little English, but Georgie is determined to prove him innocent. So, if not the chef – who? More importantly, how and why?

You’ll love Darcy and Georgie working against the clock to identify the murderer and the method while constantly dealing with unwanted family and guests arriving to witness the impending birth. Yes, for Georgie, the birthing process will be a rest!

I loved this book! It is witty and entertaining and still delivers a first-class mystery. If you have read previous books, you will be familiar with many of the characters and if you haven’t read previous books, it doesn’t matter because you can pick right up with the characters and story. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

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

View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews