Category: World War II Era (1939-1945)

A Rogue’s Company – Allison Montclare

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A Rogue's Company (Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery, #3)A Rogue’s Company by Allison Montclair
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Sparks and Bainbridge #3
Publication Date: 6/8/21
Period: Post WWII – 1946
Number of Pages: 352
** 4.5 Stars **

Goodness! I do believe I have found another historical mystery series to love. This author is new to me – and I’m so glad to have found her. I was a bit concerned about coming into the series on the third book, but that didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story in the least. The book is excellently written, the plot is well defined with the clues dribbled out just right, the villain(s) get their just desserts, and our two intrepid ladies from the Right Sort Marriage Bureau have solved another case.

If you just looked on the surface, you would never believe that Mrs. Gwendolyn (Gwen) Bainbridge and Miss Iris Sparks would ever be in the same room with each other, much less great friends and business partners. However, if you do look beneath the surface, you will see two broken ladies trying their very best to recover from the ravages of the war. Gwen lost the love of her life – her husband Robbie – and ended up in a sanitarium for a while – and she lost guardianship of her only child to her dastardly father-in-law. Iris did many things in the war while working for the government. Most of those things weren’t polite and they certainly weren’t nice. She’s trying her best to come to grips with that past, to curb her recklessness – and to curb her drinking. Each of them seems to provide the encouragement and support the other needs.

So many things are set in motion when Lord Bainbridge, Gwen’s father-in-law, returns after six months in Africa where he was checking up on Bainbridge, Ltd. assets held there. He is in a nasty temper all of the time, treats everyone badly – even his sweet grandson. Of course, none of this is new to any of them – he’s always been that way. Instead of taking time with his family, he is immediately off to his club – and the pattern continues.

Gwen has become healthier and more stable over the last months, and she’s wanting to retrieve her guardianship of her son away from Lord Bainbridge – and she wants to claim her inheritance as well – which is also controlled by Lord Bainbridge. Lord Bainbridge, of course, isn’t happy about any of that and has no intention of relinquishing control of anything to Gwen.

Gwen overhears and even participates in some strange conversations – she doesn’t totally understand them, but she’ll puzzle them out. Then, there is a murder of an African man behind Lord Bainbridge’s club. There is absolutely nothing to identify the man and nobody saw anything. Then, things get really intense when Lord Bainbridge is kidnapped.

OMGoodness! Can Iris and her less than savory friends manage to save Gwen? Lord Bainbridge? Then, of course, there is a big surprise – welcome or not????

It took me a bit to get into the story, but goodness gracious – when I did – it was Annie Get Your Guns! I loved it! I loved the characters and can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. I do worry about Iris’s love life though. I like the man she loves – and I think he loves her – but – with his profession, I can only see hurt in her future if he doesn’t mend his ways.

I can highly recommend this book and I hope you will love it as much as did.

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

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

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A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Electra McDonnell #1
Publication Date: 5/25/21
Number of Pages: 304

I have been reading and enjoying this author’s Amory Ames series, so when I saw this first book in her new series, I grabbed it right up! I am so very glad I did because the mystery is an exciting and suspenseful whodunit with delightfully entertaining characters. The characters we met who will, I assume, be recurrent characters in the series are the McDonnell family including Uncle Mick, Electra (Ellie), and perhaps Uncle Mick’s son Colm as well as life-long family friend Felix Lacey. That motley crew isn’t exactly following the letter of the law – though they try – sort of. They have their own code of right and wrong. Then, add in strait-laced, law-and-order, rule-following, unyielding, unbending, aristocrat Major Ramsey and you have a delightfully entertaining uneasy alliance when they all do their best to protect England from the Germans.

London is dark – very dark – and quiet in the wee hours of the morning in August of 1940. Uncle Mick has been planning a routine safe-cracking job for himself and Ellie. The always cheerful and good-humored Irishman is highly skilled and very thorough in his planning – so why is Ellie apprehensive about this job. As they approach the house – and then enter it – she feels as if she’s being watched. She shakes those feelings off and gets on with the job at hand. She breathes a sigh of relief as they complete the job and leave the residence – only to be apprehended by a big, burly, very unfriendly set of cops.

Major Gabriel Ramsey leads a section of military intelligence in London – and he has a case on his hands that could potentially cost England the war against Germany. Top secret plans have been stolen and are being delivered to a German courier. Ramsey must identify the English conspirators, retrieve those plans, substitute an alternate set of plans for the Top-Secret ones, and do it all without alerting the Germans that he is aware of any of it. Hopefully, they’ll be able to use that same conduit to pass future misinformation along to the Germans. What Ramsey needs is someone who is skilled in stealth and locks – and he thinks he’s found the perfect person(s).

I thoroughly enjoyed Ellie’s interactions with Ramsey. He certainly didn’t know what to make of her – other than she was a law-breaking thief of the first order. There were so very many suspects and any of them could have easily been the traitor. It takes a lot of investigation – and a number of dead bodies before the case is solved. The traitor will surprise you – and make you very sad. Now, I can hardly wait to see the next book to see if any of those potential traitors we didn’t apprehend in this book turn out to be the villains in the next tale.

I definitely recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I’m hanging on by my fingernails to see what happens with Ellie’s cousin Toby and to see what kind of relationship develops between Ramsey and Ellie (I must have a romance to go along with my mystery). Then, there is Felix – he’s sweet on Ellie, but – they’ve always been such close family friends – is that to be the romance? OMGoodness – we’re just going to have to wait and see who our next traitor is and how the romances progress.

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