Category: Interwar Period (Nov 1918 – Sep 1939)

The period between the end of WWI and the beginning of WWII

Deadly Wedding by Kate Parker

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Deadly Wedding (Deadly, #2)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Deadly #2
Publication Date: 4/25/17
Period: 1936 Inter-War London
Audiobook Narrator: Henrietta Meire for Tantor Audio

As a fan of this author’s Victorian Bookshop Mystery series, I wanted to try her Deadly series as well. I’m so glad I did as I enjoyed the time I spent with Olivia as well as her obnoxious wealthy cousins, her budding significant other – Adam, her employer at the newspaper, her photographer Jane, and, of course, her overbearing, disapproving father. My library didn’t have the first book in the series available, so I started with this one and it was no trouble at all to step right into the series and feel at home. I’ll definitely read the first book whenever my library has it available.

I ‘read’ the audiobook version and the narrator did an overall nice job. The pacing was nicely done, but, for me, the voice was too high-pitched and whiny when doing ‘posh’ aristocratic voices.

Widowed Olivia Dennis didn’t want to move back to her father’s house after her husband, Reggie, was murdered, so she got a job at The Daily Premier as a society reporter. Her father was incensed at the idea of his daughter actually working. Luckily, he doesn’t know she’s also done some more clandestine reporting for her boss. He does know, however, that she is the one who solved her husband’s murder, and that is a bone of contention between them as well.

Olivia has a love/hate relationship with her distant aristocratic cousins and she can’t believe she’s let Celia talk her into arriving early and helping Celia prepare for her wedding. With a rude, curmudgeonly patriarch, his equally rude adult children, and their adult children all living in the same household, there is little enjoyment in their company.

The old patriarch is found murdered on Celia’s wedding day, but the discovery is hushed up until the wedding is done. Since it is Celia and her groom’s third try for a wedding, her mother wanted to make sure it happened this time! When Celia announces she doesn’t trust the police to find the correct murderer and tasks Olivia with investigating the crime, things get pretty tense. Nobody wants Olivia sticking her nose in their business – but – none of them are convinced the police will get it right either.

At the same time, she is investigating the family murder, her boss assigns her a clandestine mission for him. That mission is truly dangerous since she must travel to an Austria that has just been annexed by Germany. Nazi’s have taken over and the drums of war can be heard in the distance. Can Olivia and Jane safely complete their mission and make it safely out of Austria? Oh! My!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to continuing with the series.

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A Distant Voice by Neil Richards and Matthew Costello

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

A Distant Voice (Mydworth Mysteries #9)A Distant Voice by Matthew Costello
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Barbara’s Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: Mydworth Mysteries #9
Publication Date: 7/30/21
Period: Intra-war – Mydworth – ~ 1917-1919

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a well-written, fast-paced, well-done mystery, and the characters are well-developed and likable. You’ll know who the charlatan is right from the start, but you won’t know the why or the how until the end. When you add in the wonderful descriptions of the small village of Mydworth and its citizens, you’ll feel as if you are right there with Kat and Sir Harry every step of the way.

Alice Wetherby seems to be someone who was just waiting to be exploited in some way. She is easily led and fairly easily deceived. So, when Bellamy Smythe facilitated her ‘speaking’ to her deceased father, she was a bit skeptical, but soon believed it – hook, line, and sinker. She is poor as a church mouse, so Bellamy wouldn’t have any reason to ‘con’ her or deceive her. Would he? Surely not. No, her home, the Grange, is rotting down around her – if she had money, she’d at least rid the house of the cobwebs, spiders, and mice.

Kat Reilly, Lady Mortimer, and Sir Harry Mortimer are former ‘operatives’ for their respective governments — Kat for the United States, and Sir Harry for Great Britain. Since their marriage and ‘retirement’ from the government, they have been living in Sir Harry’s home village of Mydworth. New Yorker Kat wasn’t sure how she’d adjust to small-town life, but she’s loving it so far, and now they’ve been asked by a friend to assure that Bellamy Smythe isn’t out to defraud Alice.

Kat and Harry begin to investigate and quickly learn Bellamy has pulled some shenanigans, but knowing it and proving it are two different things. They don’t just want Bellamy, they want to discover how he is getting his information about his marks. There must be more than just Bellamy involved, but they’ll have a devil of a time discovering who is discovering and passing on such personal information.

Once the mystery is solved – and the culprits identified – will Kat and Harry be able to save Alice? Will they even be able to save themselves? You’ll just have to read this entertaining book to find the answers.

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