A popular trope in cozy mysteries is “Let’s put on a show.” The spring community theater production of The Wizard of Oz is, surprisingly, Britton Bay’s inaugural play. All the parts are being filled by local thespians, but the out-of-town director’s reputation precedes her. It turns out former soap opera actress Magnolia Sweet is anything…
Lady Georgiana Rannoch’s friends and relatives know Georgie as the soul of loyalty and discretion and an absolute brick if you’re in trouble. Just ask Queen Mary or Belinda Warburton-Stoke, Georgie’s best friend from Swiss boarding school. Now blissfully married to the Honorable Darcy O’Mara, a Roman Catholic, Georgie, aka Mrs. O’Mara, is no longer…
The time is 1703, the dawn of a new century. Amateur botanist Lady Cecily Kay has traveled from Smyrna to London. Her diplomat husband encouraged her to leave Turkey; theirs is not an amicable marriage. Cecily has arranged to stay in London at the house of noted collector Sir Barnaby Mayne. Access to his research…
His & Hers features two life-weary protagonists: Londoner Anna Andrews, a suddenly unemployed television newsreader, demoted to covering breaking stories, and Jack Harper, a detective. The overarching theme is captured by Shakespeare’s, “What’s past is prologue,” (The Tempest). Andrews and Harper, from their vantage points of media and police, are investigating the case of a…
A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman is the third book in the Victorian-era Countess of Harleigh Mystery series, where Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, finds her sister’s wedding threatened by a vow of vengeance. Themes of “money, independence, and family relationships” are cleverly woven into the fabric of the…
Miss Iris Sparks (Cambridge grad and serial fiancée) and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (former debutante, widow, related to the Royals) opened The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, in 1946. They hit it off at the wedding of George and Emily Bascombe, where Gwen was the “match-maker,” for the seemingly mismatched couple and Iris, at the behest of…
Nineteen twenty-nine is a turbulent, troubled time in Chicago. The volatile stock market is showing signs of overheating. For nine months, Gina Ricci, the heroine of Murder Knocks Twice, has been a cigarette girl at Chicago’s premiere speakeasy. During the day she works at Mr. Rosenstein’s pharmacy while also lending at hand at her father’s…
After an Irish vacation, Tricia Miles and her quasi-boyfriend Marshall Cambridge are back in Stoneham, New Hampshire. The trip was a dud. It was a working vacation for Marshall, who was leading a tour of elderly travelers, and he was never off the clock. Back at the Haven’t Got a Clue Bookstore, Pixie Poe, the…
A few pages into The Dilemma, the relentless theme of the Perry Mason show pulsed in my brain. Something earthshattering and inexorable is about to consume Livia’s much anticipated 40th birthday party. The story is a departure for B. A. Paris, who is famous for her thrillers. The Dilemma is suspenseful and riveting, but no…
Outsider is the twelfth Kate Burkholder Amish-set mystery. Linda Castillo published Sworn to Silence in 2009: since then the series has gone from strength to strength. Readers who are curious about Kate’s early police career will relish Outsider. A wicked snowstorm in Painters Mill, Ohio doesn’t deter Amish widower Adam Lengacher from taking his rambunctious…
