Category: Mystery

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins

On By TracyIn Historical Mystery, Mystery, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (A Lady's Guide, #1)A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: A Lady’s Guide, #1

Release Date: November 10. 2021

As the owner of the Gazette, widow Lady Katherine Bascomb is sick of men deciding what knowledge is appropriate for women to know. When yet another man tells her she is too delicate to hear about the murders being done by someone the papers are calling the “Commandments Killer” Kate decides to use her position and her paper to educate the women of London. She recruits Caroline Hardcastle and they set out to get some questions about the murders answered. They interview a witness that the police never spoke to and get a lead to the killer – it is a huge break in the case that shakes up Scotland Yard.

Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham has been working on the Commandments case for months and is angry that the reporter from the Gazette released information about the killer without telling the police and that the man he assigned to interview witnesses, missed the chophouse serving girl. His superiors pull him off the case and his replacement – the man who was supposed to interview witnesses – makes an arrest of a man named John Clark. Andrew doesn’t believe they have the right man, but has no recourse. When he meets Katherine at a press conference and helps her navigate the crowd, he takes the opportunity to chastise her for her recklessness and says the wrong man is going to hang because of her. They part ways and neither expects to see the other again.

But fate and the killer are not done with these two, appalled that she may be responsible for sending an innocent man to jail, she attends a house party of her dear friend Lord Valentine Thorn, hoping to have him appeal to his father the Duke of Thornfield to intercede and have John Clark released. But while at the party the killer strikes again and Andrew is sent to investigate. He and Kate come to an agreement, they will work together to find the killer and clear John Clark. But nothing can prepare them for the twists and turns in the or for the attraction between them they can’t ignore. Will they be able to solve the murders and have their own HEA or will the Commandments Killer claim another victim.

I thought this was a well written, intriguing story with a really well-done mystery – but as a romance, it was a little lacking. Andrew and Kate don’t really begin to interact until well into the book and even then, the romance seems to take a backseat to the mystery. If this was billed as an historical mystery, I would give it 4.5 – the proof I received was marked as an UNCORRECTED copy, so I will assume that the typos, title errors and inconsistencies – including the mention of Oscar Wilde in a book set in 1865 – will be addressed prior to publication. As a romance it is more of a 3.5 star book, so I decided to split the difference. It is an excellent mystery with some romance, some steamyish love scenes, more than one twist, a couple of eye-popping revelations, great secondary characters, witty banter, a strong heroine and a great hero. I enjoyed the book and will happily recommend this title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an uncorrected eARC that I requested and was provided by NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.*

The Shrine by LJ Ross

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, MysteryLeave a comment

The Shrine (DCI Ryan Mysteries, #16)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: DCI Ryan Mysteries #16
Publication Date: 5/10/20
Number of Pages: 236

OMGoodness – I have found a wonderful new-to-me author and mystery series. I came into the series at the sixteenth book, but I fully intend to go back and start at the beginning because I enjoyed this one so much. I loved the characters; I loved the setting; I loved the mystery; I loved the writing style, and I can’t believe I’m just discovering them.

I used the Whispersync feature with this book, so I listened to the audio of some of it and read some of it. I liked the narrator’s voice as it was very smooth and flowed nicely. However, he didn’t seem to have a very wide range for voices – the females sounded like males with high voices and the male characters just sounded kind of raspy rather than distinctive. That said, I still enjoyed the listen – just not as much as I would have if there were a wider voice range.

Detective Chief Inspector Maxwell Finley-Ryan and his wife, Dr. Anna Taylor-Ryan are happily awaiting the arrival of their first child. As Ryan muses, “For all the tragedies he’d known, Ryan considered himself a lucky man and never more so than the day he’d found Anna—the other, better half of himself.” Now, they are bringing a child into the world.

Never do they expect two tragedies to befall them – almost at the same moment. Are they related, or are they just coincidences? Detective Chief Inspector Joan Tebbutt is brutally gunned down right at her front door. “She heard the motorbike before she saw it and, when she did, there was no time to react. The first shot penetrated the side of her neck and, as the pathologist would later remark, she might have survived that.” At almost that exact same time, Rose is gravely injured in a bombing at Durham Cathedral. “In addition to the head trauma, your wife has several broken bones in her right arm and ankle. She’s also suffering from moderately severe smoke inhalation.” With two of their own dead and injured, DCI Ryan’s team will leave no stone unturned – there will be no hole deep enough to hide, nor any corner far enough away to hide these despicable criminals. The team will find them and see that they are punished – fully – under the law.

The best way to handle both cases is to divide and conquer, so the team divides up and each part takes a different case. Their leads lead them all over the place – from terrorists, to fraud, to vendettas, to – well, you name it and there is some of it in the story.

While we see who the murderer is, we don’t see the mastermind in the wind-up of this story. I assume the next book will see more of his/her machinations and then, maybe his final punishment. So, it isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but we don’t get a total wrap-up of the story either.

I definitely enjoyed this read and cannot wait to get started on the first fifteen that I missed.