A great valentine's read

Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing. She has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley.
Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing,  it she has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.
Published in Friends of the Rochester Public Library Wordpress blog, celtreads.blogspot, Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing,  it she has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.
Published in Friends of the Rochester Public Library Wordpress blog, celtreads.blogspot, Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

It's Always Sherlock Season

It's (Always) Sherlock Season!
I have many favourite Sherlocks: literary, media, old and new, not the least being Cumberbatch, who I sincerely hope plays Mr Holmes, husband of Mary Russell, as written by Laurie King. The original Sherlock Holmes, the fictional English detective extraordinaire, was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887 (A Study in Scarlet) and has never died. This legendary figure lives on in current literature, television and movies. I have especially liked many of the modern takes, including the short stories of King and Klinger. Each collection has had spectacular tales by some of the best writers of our time: (King, Klinger, Connolly, Bradley, Gaiman, ...) Indeed, each volume I couldn't wait to see who wrote another installment! Every volume has a fascinating, charming, unsettling story for everyone, so don't miss them.

Title: Echoes of Sherlock eds Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
Publisher:
Genre: mystery, thriller fiction, series, short stories,
5+ stars
Authors:
Laurie R King is a best selling author of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, SanFran homicide inspector Kate Martinelli mysteries, as well as highly recommended stand alone suspense novels. She has been nominated for and won many awards for her writing, (including a Nero for A Monstrous Regiment of Women, (Russell/Sherlock) and a MacCavity for Touchstone, one of my favourite mysteries). Recently, she was awarded an Agatha for best historical 2015 Dreaming Spies! The first Russell/Sherlock is The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994).
Leslie Klinger is an American attorney and writer AND an eminent literary editor and annotator, particularly of the Sherlock Holmes Canon. His New Annotated Sherlock Holmes won an Edgar (the annual Edgar Allan Poe awards). Both King and Klinger are Baker Street Irregulars. They have edited three collections of stories inspired by the canon. The previous book in this series  In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Tales Inspired by the Holmes Canon, won both the Anthony and the Silver Falchion awards for “Best Anthology”.
Story line:
This is the third editorial collaboration of Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger of newly commissioned tales from somewhere in the Sherlock Holmes tradition or canon. Like the previous collections, A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, this edition has 18 short stories, memorable, wonderful, intriguing and suspenseful. There are two that didn't appeal to me but most have widely different takes, so I would recommend reading one or two an evening, savouring each gem. Too many at once dims the appreciation of these unique stories. Enjoy the different takes in Victorian life, fresh imagination, reflections of current Holmes/Watson (PSTD) with complex cases and nasty villains.  They all pale in comparison to John Connolly's (soon to be award winning!) contribution. I have absolute favourites in each of these three volumes and would love to have them in a best of volume! My top three would be Connolly, Alexander, Perry, followed closely by David Morrell, Dana Cameron. Indeed I will be reading more of some of these authors. Several left me wanting to turn the page for continued story. Continue the anthology please! Keep the new stories and varied authors coming. I had no idea so many people would like to try their hand at Holmes.
Read on
A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon.
Caleb Carr The Italian Secretary
Anthony Horowitz The House of Silk, Moriarity
Laurie R King Mary Russell series
Alan Bradley Flavia deLuce series
Jasper Fforyde Eyre Affair Tuesday Next series
Quotes:
All of which only goes to prove that when one is dealing with Sherlock Holmes, a man “who never lived and so can never die,” physics goes out the window.
Holmes on The Range by John Connolly is both my favourite and the best of this collection. It extends his Edgar award winning novella The Caxton Private Lending Library 2014 in Night Music. Don't forget to read his first set of unsettling supernatural short stories Nocturne.
The history of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository has not been entirely without incident, as befits an institution of seemingly infinite space inhabited largely by fictional characters who have found their way into the physical realm.
Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository was established as a kind of rest home for the great, the good and, occasionally, the not-so-good-but-definitely-memorable, of literature, all supported by rounding up the prices on books by a ha’penny a time.
“I don’t profess to be an expert in every field,” he replied. “I have little interest in literature, philosophy, or astronomy, and a negligible regard for the political sphere. I remain confident in the fields of chemistry and the anatomical sciences, and, as you have pointed out, can hold my own in geology and botany, with particular reference to poisons.”
“It’s not the way I was written. I’m written as a criminal mastermind who comes up with baroque, fiendish plots. It’s against my nature even to walk down the street in a straight line.
Believe me, I’ve tried. I have to duck and dive so much that I get dizzy.”
“By the way, is my archnemesis here?” asked Holmes. “I’m not expecting him,” said Mr. Headley. “You know, he never seemed entirely real.”
He then returned to the bowels—or attic—of the library, and found that it had begun to create suitable living quarters for Holmes and Watson based on Paget’s illustrations, and Watson’s descriptions, of the rooms at 221B Baker Street.
The Spiritualist by David Morrell (where Conan Doyle gets a ghostly visit from Holmes full of family history)
“But the great actor, William Gillette, used it as a prop when he portrayed me on stage. It looks more dramatic than an ordinary straight pipe.
Raffa by Anne Perry is a lovely, charming tale of a 9 year old who needs Sherlock.
He drew in his breath to try to explain to her that he was Marcus St. Giles, playing Sherlock Holmes on television.
Her wide blue eyes did not waver from his. The trust in them was terrifying. Was the real Sherlock Holmes ever faced with . . . but now he was being idiotic.
There was no ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes! “That sounds about right,”
“The things we love matter, whatever they are,”
“I think you are a lot nicer for real than you are in the stories that Dr Watson writes about you.”
The Crown Jewel Affair by Michael Scott
This once-elegant street was now the cancer at the heart of Dublin, the second city of the British Empire. Crime, perversion and disease were rampant and it was ruled by a series of terrifying women:...
“Mr. Corcoran, there are more whores in this city than in London and Manchester combined. That is because we are a garrison city, a port city. We have English regiments training in the Royal Barracks and on the Curragh, and the quays are busy with British warships and merchantmen from around the world. All those soldiers and sailors are looking for relief.
The Case of The Speckled Trout by Deborah Crombie
I’d never been north of the Border, so as the train gathered speed out of Edinburgh’s Waverly Station I looked out the window with interest.
While I was trying to decide whether I had sold myself into Dickensian slavery—or was destined to be a Scottish Jane Eyre, stuck on the moor with a dour master and a mad wife—the road ran downhill and we were again in the land of green glens and burbling streams
Cooking, it turned out, was only chemistry.
The Adventure of The Empty Grave by Jonathan Maberry (Watson meets Dupin, the first fictional detective of EA Poe)
Dupin was clearly possessed some of the same intellectual qualities as my late friend, but he also had a fair few of the less appealing habits that apparently are part and parcel. Superiority and condescension, not the least.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.

We're Not Dead Yet

I am reading a lot of escapism now in the wake of the new president. January devoured 40 books in mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, children's and much non fiction. Mysteries are great fun, especially by known authors. I have many favourites and always look for their new releases. A fan of Thomas Perry, I have recommended his stories since his debut Edgar award winning novel The Butcher's Boy (1982). Metzer's Dog followed and then I loved the Jane Whitefield series. I own most, have read them all, given several away multiple times. I have recommended several of his later mysteries on this blog. I am just delighted to report that his latest novel is fantastic. I read this immensely satisfying tale straight through.

Title: The Old Man by Thomas Perry
Publisher: Mysterious Press January 2017, 352 pp
Genre: mystery, thriller, espionage, suspense.          5 stars *****
Author: Thomas Perry (b 1947) has a phd in English literature (and as they often do, lists employment as laborer, fisherman, maintenance, weapons mechanic, university administrator and teacher. But then it gets interesting with writer, television producer and writer, including Simon and Simon. 21 Jump Street and Star Trek, the Next Generation.) He is an award winning author, having written 24 suspense novels, notably The Butcher's Boy (series), Metzer's Dog and the Jane Whitefield series. Recently he has been writing stand alone mysteries/thrillers, although with this novel, I am sincerely hoping he will start a new series.
Story line: This is a dark tale of a former army special ops, who has lived quietly in Vermont for many years, raised a family, while always on alert. And they did come for him. Not just the Libyans, but our own government, in an all too possible scenario. He stays one step ahead of them using his planning, discipline, intelligence and competence.
Dan Chase (aka Peter, Harry, Bill...don't get used to the name) is a very young "old" man (60 retired widower). 60 is the new 30? Actually I am just fine with that this birthday year!
I particularly liked Julian Carson a conflicted field officer and a great pair of trained dogs, Dave and Carol. I wanted more from the ending, and a few things didn't add up for me, especially the female character. But it was fast paced and clever with several unexpected twists. Given his hiding in plain sight, I expected to see Jane Whitefield too!
Perry has addictive writing, sharp, engaging, tight multi layered plot, with interesting characters.  I thought this book was a return to his previous stellar works, although all are worth reading.  I would love to see Dan/Bill become a series, would like to believe we have such individuals in the world. As well as have an older hero, whose maturity provides wisdom (and answers). This is great escape reading, perfect for your winter vacation; it also works to avoid winter cabin blues, with the rollercoaster ride providing adrenaline rushes.
Read on: if you like John LeCarre, Geoffrey Household, Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne
John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series
Quotes: The predicament he had created for himself when he was young had made him aware that life was precious.
Curiosity is a sign of a lively mind. That’s the only kind worth having.
Julian kept walking. He had warned his superior officers. He had told them a couple of times that the old man wasn’t just an old man, like somebody’s uncle.
He was old in the way a seven-foot rattlesnake was old.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.

You don't want to know Jack...

Title: The Jekyll Revelation by Robert Masello
Publisher: 47 North 477 pp
Genre: mystery, thriller fiction, historical, science fiction, fantasy
4 stars
Author:
Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, TV writer, and a bestselling author. A recent thriller, The Einstein Prophecy was # 1 in the Kindle store. Previous books include Blood and Ice, The Medusa Amulet and the Romanov Cross. He has authored two popular studies of the Occult as well as books on writing. TV credits include "Charmed," "Sliders," Early Edition," and "Poltergeist: the Legacy." He studied writing at Princeton University under Robert Stone and Geoffrey Wolff. This is my first exposure to him, chosen from netgalley for my obsession with all things literary Scotland.
Story line:
This book has two alternating storylines: in the present storyline are we introduced to Rafael (Rafe) Salazar, an environmental scientist, who discovers an old green steamer trunk with a flask and a journal that was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, so his past alternates with the present. In August 1888, as the stage play of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was taking London by storm, Jack the Ripper, perhaps the most notorious serial killer in history, struck for the first time. In reality RLS briefly was considered a suspect.
Masello weaves the different threads of action, gothic horror, history, science and science fiction together in a story that grabs your attention from the very beginning. It's more pulp fiction than I normally read, but it's a great action 'film'. I enjoyed the RLS journal entries more than the present day story which included methheads, rednecks, violence and clueless male egos. Perhaps it was also that the women are superficial. Having read several biographies of Fanny Stevenson, Maesello doesn't portray her well either. But, suspend reality for a day and enjoy the suspense.
Read on:
If you are a fan of Dan Brown, Lee Child, Douglas Preston
Quotes:
Opening paragraph
25th of November, 1894 From: Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima House, Samoa To: W.E. Henley, 18 Maybury Road, Old Woking, Surrey, England Dear Henley—What I must tell you now, I tell you with dread. It has happened again. What we thought—what we prayed—we had left behind us in the back alleys and darkened doorways of Whitechapel has, I fear, awakened from its awful slumber. It has struck again, right here, in what I had foolishly thought might be Paradise. And I have been the unwitting agent of its malevolence.
As a Field Officer with the Environmental Sciences Service, he had seen the canyon in all kinds of conditions, but he had never seen it this bad.
tall one with the scruffy gray beard; Alfie was built like a fire hydrant (and was just about as bright.)
Ever since he was a boy, Rafe had talked to animals; his little sister, Lucy, after seeing the movie of the same name, had called him Dr. Doolittle.
“Tell Stoker he doesn’t need to send any more emissaries. I’m sane as the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
In his hands, he held the journal, but with a kind of reverence now, that he had not initially felt. He hadn’t known at first whose initials they were—RLS—nor had he known who Louis, or Fanny, was. But then he’d read and deciphered more of the text, put it all together, and discovered that the author of the book was none other than Robert Louis Stevenson. The man whose books, like Treasure Island and Kidnapped and The Master of Ballantrae, he’d devoured as a boy.

Reading the book was slow-going—the ink had faded almost to the point of disappearing here and there, and he had to turn the pages with great care or they would shred and fall away from the binding. Stevenson’s handwriting was very peculiar, too—angular and slanted, with a lot of what looked like hasty pen marks, swipes and blottings. Rafe had read all the entries from the Belvedere clinic in Switzerland and he had been especially moved by the author’s attempts to protect the wolf he called Lord Grey from the cruelties of Yannick. On that score, he felt a real allegiance with Stevenson.
What I did not feel, and this was what astonished me even then, even in what should have been an utterly terrifying moment, was fear. I felt instead a burst of exhilaration, coupled with a sensation of freedom and power. I was not the scribbler Robert Louis Stevenson—I was the wolf Lord Grey.
“English gardens,” she said. “All weeds and no flowers.”

What he held in his hands—the seared covers and a handful of dust—was all he had to show for the last words of Robert Louis Stevenson. 


Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley.

Intriguing historical mystery!

Title: Iron Water (A Victorian Police Procedural) by Chris NicksonPublisher: Severn House 224pp November 2016

Genre: mystery, thriller fiction, historical, English mystery     4.5+ stars

Author: Chris Nickson (b 1954) is a British novelist, music journalist, and biographer who lived in the United States for 30 years before returning home. As a music journalist, he specialized in world and roots music, writing a regular column for Global Rhythm magazine. He wrote The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to World Music. He has written biographies of celebrities including Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Reeve and the late singer-songwriter John Martyn, Solid Air (ebook in June 2011). His first novel, The Broken Token (2010), was set in Leeds in 1731 followed by Cold Cruel Winter, then TheConstant Lovers, The Cruel Fear, At the Dying of the Year and Fair and Tender Ladies: these are The Richard Nottingham novels. Then there are the Laura Benton series which take place in Seattle, the Detective Harper late Victorian (1890s) series also in Leeds, and other one-off novels and non-fiction. The audiobook of The Broken Token was named as one of the Audiobooks of the Year for 2012 by The Independent on Sunday.

Story line: I was very excited to discover a new author! This book looked interesting and is a genre I enjoy, but after the first 25 pages I settled in for a wonderful read. And then I discovered this is actually the fourth in a series, which I now must read in order. Gods of Gold is the first volume, followed by Two Bronze Pennies and Skin Like silver. All of his books have been added to my list. I love discovering a new (to me) author and enjoy sharing. Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read Nickson. What a pleasure to enjoy an intricate plot, wonderful detailed characters, accurate interesting historical detail for an enjoyable afternoon read. These days stories often set your teeth on edge, you encounter graphic sex or violence when you're not expecting it, editing leaves something to be desired, or.... this didn't disappoint on any level.

We catch up with Detective Tom Harper witnessing a demonstration of a new naval weapon, the torpedo, in Waterloo Lake (aka Iron Water). Unfortunately a body is dislodged and then dredging operations unearth a women's leg in the River Aire. Every era and town seems to have a violent criminal underworld. His wife Annabelle is also a suffragist and we see many societal changes including class structure, women's issues, children. Leeds is a grim dirty industrial city (newly designated) and it's obvious I have to read his other historical novels of this city. What a pleasure to add him to my winter reading. I eagerly await the next installment 2017, after I finish the rest of the series!

Www.chrisnickson.co.uk

Read on:

Late Victorian detectives: Canadian Det Murdoch (Maureen Jennings), Mary Russell (Laurie King)

Quotes:

But until Mary was born he hadn’t known how loudly his heart could sing. 

Detective Sergeant Ash he was now, promoted the year before and worth his weight in diamonds. He was a natural detective, a man who made connections well, who could think on his feet. Harper had pushed for him to be given his stripes; he deserved them.

He’d been a copper for fourteen years and never had a corpse emerge from the water before. Now there were two in a single morning.

‘Detective Inspector Harper, Leeds City Police.’ He still wasn’t used to the new name of the force.

The file on Archer was almost six inches thick, years of papers piled one on top of the other. The rumour was that he’d committed his first murder when he was just ten; a shopkeeper who clipped him round the ear when he came in and demanded money. No one had ever appeared in court for the death. He’d been arrested and questioned more often than Harper had enjoyed hot dinners.

‘You work out what the truth is,’ Harper told him. ‘That’s what the job is all about.’

‘Ready?’ Harper asked. ‘As I’ll ever be, sir,’ Ash answered. ‘I made out my will a few months ago.’

The sergeant smiled under his moustache. ‘I doubt Charlie Gilmore’s come within shouting distance of the truth since he learned how to talk. But there might have been a few places where he wasn’t lying too much.’

Six dead now. He couldn’t remember another case with so many murdered. And now? There was still one man out there. Morley’s killer. The last man standing. And he didn’t know who that might be.

Welcome to Hell...Bay!

Title: Hell Bay By Will Thomas
Publisher: Minotaur Books 304 pp. October 2016
Genre: mystery, English historical, series,  fiction
4.5 stars
Author:
This is the 8th in the Barker and Llewelyn series written by Will Thomas, an author from Oklahoma.  I have avidly followed this historical mystery series, eagerly awaiting each installment. I have never been disappointed from Some Danger Involved to the last Anatomy of Evil and would recommend reading them in order. This is not the usual gritty crime ridden streets of Victorian London tamed by Barker, but a well written closed room mystery with personal development.
Story line:
Private enquiry agent extraordinaire and scotsman Cyrus Barker agrees to his least favorite assignment,  security.  A secret conference at the private estate of Lord Hargrave on a remote island, Godolphin, off the coast of Cornwall will negotiate a new treaty with France. The cover story for the gathering is a house party--an attempt to introduce two unmarried sons to potential mates. Nothing like a little intrigue to determine true colours.

But almost immediately Lord Hargrave is killed by a sniper, and the French ambassador’s head of security is stabbed to death. Trapped in the manor house with no means off the island, Barker and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, must determine which among them is the killer(s) while also uncovering family secrets and motives. It has a satisfactory ending, with rapid page turning!

Read on:
If you like Sherlock Holmes, or manor house mysteries.
Quotes:
Everything was falling into chaos everywhere. Standards were no longer being met, and so they lowered the standards, rather than getting at the root of the problem, which was lazy boys.

Quite probably, he died feeling no pain whatsoever, which, considering how much he had inflicted on others during his many years, doesn’t exactly seem fair.

We all make mistakes, of course, even the best of us. Some of us are famous for them. 

We’re like that, Cyrus Barker and I: chalk and cheese. If something interests one of us, it probably won’t interest the other.

One cannot go anywhere without being questioned about everything. One is asked about one’s relatives, one’s political views, private history, and personal references. One engages in small talk. Do I look like the sort of person who enjoys engaging in small talk?....If I have to endure a week of sweetmeats and polite conversation, I’m liable to set back Anglo-French relations all by myself.”

The colonel smiled, revealing a full set of ivory teeth that had looked better on the elephant.

To my mind, nothing said that we were staying in an actual castle more than the fact that the dining table seated twenty. It was not a number of tables put together, or even two smaller ones abutted, but one table...

“The bullet passed right through my hand,” Fraser said. “That will not improve my rheumatism.” We were impressed. The man at seventy-three was making jokes about having just been shot.

Nobody ever talks about a brooding Pole or a brooding Chinaman, but Scotsmen are known for it. It was good that the weather was too warm for a fire to stare into or there would be no word from him all day.

You work for a man for six years and then one day he hands you a death sentence. I recalled the Llewelyn luck: everything bad that can happen to one probably shall, and yet one will not die from it, as that would end the torment too quickly.

No self-respecting Scotsman would be without his skean dhu.

She could have given the sun lessons in how to shine.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley.

TagManII

Title:  Presumption of Guilt by Archer Mayor
Publisher: Minotaur books 305 pp (Sept 2016)
Genre: mystery, thriller, fiction, series, Joe Gunther
4.5+ stars
Author:  Archer Mayor is a bestselling author of the 27-book police procedural series featuring VPI detective Joe Gunther. After graduating from Yale he wrote historical non fiction. In addition to his writing, Mayor is a death investigator for Vermont's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and a longtime detective for the Windham County Sheriff's Office. Mayor integrates his actual police experiences which adds depth, detail, and authenticity to his characters and provides rich multilayered plots. He won the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award  for Best Fiction--the first time a writer of crime literature was honored.  He has also been cited for Excellence in the Arts by the State of Vermont.

Story line:
I have been a fan since the publication of his first novel, and yes, I have them all. In hardback. Living all over the world, each book gave me a fresh current look at home. There is always an excellent ensemble of characters, well loved with growth and scars. It helps to read these in order as each character has an extensive backstory. New faces and the next generation are intriguingly present here. I especially like the realistic, often witty dialogue, the relevant and timely well researched multilayered plots, with a lack of gratuitous sex or violence. Vermont is warmly depicted, Vermonters occasionally hilariously so. Every book is a solid, engaging page turner. I highlighted 50 quotes I wanted to share. It was a fast read, but also had an abrupt ending. I tried to turn the last page three times, expecting, wanting more.  I loved Krunkle's role and the return of TagMan. I'm glad some peace has found Joe.
Read on:
John Sandford Virgil Flowers series, Craig Johnson Walt Longmire series, Dick and Felix Francis, Kathy Reichs, Susan Hill
Quotes:
“Brattleboro? That’s a bar town, not a city. They should call it Dodge and have done with it. We’re going to Keene.”

You’re the flatlander. Bright lights’re like oxygen to you.”

And that meant not just “away,” as many Vermonters called the world beyond their borders.

“Can’t we rule it a suicide?” Willy asked now, looking down at the calcified finger with the ring, still trapped in place. Predictably, Lester laughed, Sam rolled her eyes, and Joe answered evenly, “Probably not, but I like the creative thinking.”

This is sounding like a modern Agatha Christie novel, although I doubt she would’ve used a nuclear reactor as a setting.”
Because to her, Dan Kravitz would forever be his own alter ego: not the menial everyman with an eerie ability to keep clean, but rather what the papers had coined “the Tag Man” a couple of years ago.

Didn’t they do that in a Columbo episode?”

In 1967 and ’68, homicides jumped from four a year to around twenty. The hippie counterculture, the Vietnam War protests, the interstate coming through, unemployment … The population jumped sixty thousand, because of urban flight, at the same time about twenty-five hundred farms went belly-up. This state was reeling, and I’m barely touching the surface.”

“The mere fact you just said so’ll make it happen, oh fearless leader,” Willy said resignedly. “That is the way it works.”

“You are a sweetheart. Never hesitate to call. If I’m in the middle of a gunfight or something, I’ll phone you right back.”

“It’s AA. It’s anonymous.” “It’s Vermont, stupid. There’re twelve people in the whole state. Everybody knows everybody else. Who else was there?”

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.