Category: Yearly Favorites

The Fatal Flying Affair by T.E. Kinsey

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, George V - 1910- 1936, Historical Mystery, Yearly FavoritesLeave a comment

The Fatal Flying Affair (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery #7)
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Lady Hardcastle Mysteries #7
Publication Date: 12/3/20
Number of Pages: 316

OH! This was a delightful author and series to find. Coming into the series with book seven only made me want to go back and discover the delights of the first six books. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a read this much in a long time. The mystery is realistic, the writing is excellent, the prose is witty, the story is excellently paced, and the characters are all wonderful. How have I missed this series? I, who insists on a bit of romance in my mysteries, didn’t even miss it in this book. Go figure! Just as an FYI to the other miscreants out there who have also missed this series – this book can easily be read as a standalone. References are made to former cases and people, but not in such a way that you feel you are lacking some knowledge.

For those of you who are familiar with this series, you might want to skip this paragraph because it is about my take on who Lady Emily Hardcastle and Florence Armstrong are and what they do. My take may not be totally correct because it is mostly from suppositions based on some of the things mentioned in this book. However, I’ll know all once I manage the time to go back and read the earlier stories. Lady Hardcastle has been a widow for something like thirteen years. Florence has worked for Lady Hardcastle for something like seventeen years. Officially, Florence is Emily’s lady’s maid, but that is just to explain Florence’s presence at various functions. Florence is really Emily’s friend and partner in their work for the Crown. Both ladies have spent years working for the Crown and they are exceedingly skilled at what they do – and who – in that time period – would ever suspect a Lady and her maid of being agents for the Crown? They’ve been retired for the last three years and living in Littleton Cotterell in Gloucestershire – near Bristol.

Lady H and Flo have enjoyed their retirement and country living, but when Lady H’s brother Harry, who works for the Secret Service, approaches the indomitable pair about returning to active service, they quickly agree. It seems that something just isn’t right at the Bristol Aviation and Aeronautics Company. Harry’s organization has determined that someone is leaking design information to foreign agents, and a gifted young engineer was killed in a testing accident. That accident might not have been an accident. Harry needs Emily and Flo to figure out what is going on at the company, Identify the leaker, and to determine if the young engineer was murdered.

With political tensions already making themselves felt in 1911, everyone is fearful of an approaching war. Even those who aren’t ‘in the know’ about what is actually happening are feeling the tensions mounting. Emily and Flo know more than most – especially with Harry filling them in – so they embark on their new investigation determined to find who is betraying England to foreign powers.

I absolutely adore the banter between Harry, Emily, and Flo. They are all well-suited and can always make a very tense situation less tense with their humor and wit. I adore how absolutely talented the two ladies are – and how they thoroughly enjoy pulling the wool over people’s eyes. Those people, especially males, tend to discount two females, especially a Lady and her tiny little lady’s maid. They discount Flo and Emily at their own peril!

This is a delightful read with a great mystery (or two or three or …) and such delightful characters that you will love them all. I definitely recommend the book.

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

Poppy Redfern and the Fatal Flyers by Tessa Arlen

On By BarbaraIn Audiobook, Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, World War II Era (1939-1945), Yearly FavoritesLeave a comment

Poppy Redfern and the Fatal Flyers (A Woman of WWII Mystery #2)
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: A Woman of WW II Mystery #2
Publication Date: 12/1/20
Number of Pages: 320

This series is a delightful find! I have read other books by Tessa Arlen, but I missed out on the first of the Poppy Redfern books – and I’m so sorry about that! The writing is excellent, the mystery is well-formed and well-executed so you don’t guess who the villain is until the very end. There are lots of red herrings to keep you guessing. This book was so entertaining that I’ll now have to go back and read the first book in the series. Speaking of it being a series, this book can totally be read as a standalone – but I can promise you, you’ll want to go back and read the first book.

I listened to an ARC of the audiobook and I enjoyed the listen. The narrator, Madeleine Leslay, performed the narration with a tempo and voice that made me feel as if Poppy is a happy person who enjoys her life. She sounded very upbeat. I didn’t totally lose myself in the story because I did have a hard time differentiating among the speakers. They all sounded pretty much the same – every once in a while, the Scot would sound like a Scot, but the American never, ever, sounded like an American. So, I had to really concentrate to determine who was speaking. I’ll also mention that the American, who is also the masculine lead, was performed so that he sounded so prissy that I would have thought the part was female had the word ‘he’ not been used to describe him.

In late autumn of 1942, Poppy Redfern is settling into her new job as a scriptwriter at the London Crown Film Unit, which produces short films about valorous deeds performed by ordinary British citizens in wartime. She’s really excited to receive her first assignment, writing the script for a fifteen-minute film on a group of female pilots known as the Attagirls. These intrepid ladies fly every sort of aircraft to bases all over England. These ladies would much rather actually fly as part of the Royal Air Force, but England doesn’t allow female combat pilots – they barely allow these ladies to fly the planes around England. They perform a vital service – getting new planes from the manufacturer to the bases who need them as well as ferrying newly repaired planes back to their bases. Poppy cannot wait to meet these ladies.

Poppy’s gentleman friend, Griff, has seven days of leave and decides to go along with Poppy for a few days. Both Griff and Poppy quickly come to like and admire these brave ladies who fly in all sorts of adverse conditions without any of the basic safety devices regular combat pilots have. Their bravery and patriotism come through loud and clear. The six ladies they meet were the first recruited by the Air Transport Auxiliary and all of them are highly skilled and rated for most types of aircraft.

Poppy, Huntley (the producer), Keith (the cameraman), and Griff, all head for the ferry depot from which the Attagirls work. Poppy and Griff arrive first and Poppy sets about getting to know the ladies in order to begin the scriptwriting. She likes them very much and is excited to tell their tales. That excitement turns to horror when, one of the best pilots crashes and dies during a filming session. Everyone is immediately saying it was an accident and/or pilot error. Griff, who is a pilot, and Poppy don’t believe it to be an accident. They investigate more and more – they become more and more sure it wasn’t an accident. Without any proof, they cannot say anything – and when a second crash and death occur, they are sure both are related. When the powers-that-be decide that the crashes are ‘accidents’, and the filming session is drawing to a close, they know they have to quickly get some answers.

I absolutely adored Poppy and Griff – not to mention Bess, Poppy’s sweet little Corgi. Since I didn’t read the first book, I have no idea where Poppy and Griff left their relationship in that book. However, in this book, it is quite evident they care for each other. I’ll be so very happy to read the next book in order to see what mystery they get to solve and to see where their relationship goes next.

I voluntarily listened to and reviewed an Advance Audio Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.