I have done a great deal of reading this fall. When pain levels rise, I medicate myself with excellent books, especially compelling mystery series. Since these reviews are all rather detailed and thus longer than usual, I'm only posting four rather than the six to seven reviews I usually post together. Three of the four reviews in this post are from my three of my favorite British historical mystery series of this year: the Daisy Dalrymple series (set in the 1920s) by Carola Dunn, the brilliant Maisie Dobbs series (starting in the Great War and now entering the Second World War) by Jacqueline Winspear, and the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries (set in the Regency era) by C.S. Harris.
I have read at least a dozen books of each series, and they are all very different yet exceedingly compelling. Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series is more of the cozy mystery genre with humor and lightness in the midst of murders while Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mysteries are deeper and more psychological in nature--very thoughtful and methodical and oh-so-intriguing.
Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries are by far the darkest of the three as they explore the underbelly of Regency London with the crusading Viscount Devlin (Sebastian St. Cyr) solving murders, often in the slums of the city, and his equally noble and crusading Viscountess who writes stories depicting the life-and-death struggles of the poor of London. The Devlins are two sides of the same coin, born to the nobility yet with compassion for the poverty-stricken; it's all political and quite messy.
Also included with these mystery series is Julie Klassen's
The Tutor's Daughter, a rather Gothic tale that leans toward the mystery genre (as all great Gothic novels do). I've read a couple of Klassen's books before (she writes in the Christian genre, a subset of books I don't usually enjoy much since the writing often seems substandard to me), and they were enjoyable enough but not particularly noteworthy or compelling. However,
The Tutor's Daughter, a British historical novel, was both compelling and much better developed than the previous books I've read by this author. I very much enjoyed it, and Klassen's mysterious tale holds its own in the company of Dunn, Winspear, and Harris.
So let the reviews begin!!
A Mourning Wedding by
Carola Dunn
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
The thirteenth novel in the brilliant Daisy Dalrymple mystery series finds Daisy at her former roommate Lucy's ancestral home, Haverhill, amid her very extended family of Lords and Ladies in preparation for Lucy's wedding to Lord Gerald ("Binkie"). But the murder of Lady Eva, who was a well-known collector of gossip on everyone in the family, causes Daisy to have to call Alec--Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher--up to Haverhill several days before he had planned to arrive. As usual, people flock to Daisy to tell her their innermost secrets--it's those guileless blue eyes, says Alec--which aid Alec and his team in solving not one but multiple murders and attempted murders.
I adore this series; it's light and frothy, filled with all sorts of British slang of the mid-1920s, and Daisy's somewhat loopy yet somehow correct insights both annoys and amazes Alec while Sergeant Tring and DC Piper both believe, as usual, that Daisy can do no wrong. After all, she has assisted in solving many cases for New Scotland Yard both before and after her marriage to Alec. Daisy is a delightfully human protagonist, smart in some ways and rather obtuse in others, yet as an "Honourable," she has access to the nobility (or "nobs," as Sergeant Tring calls them) that Alec often requires as he solves his cases. Overall, this series, and this particular novel in the series, is definitely "Right-O!"
A Dangerous Place by
Jacqueline Winspear
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I had taken a short break from the world of Maisie Dobbs; I could sense heartache ahead of her throughout the tenth book in the series, and with all that's going on in my life right now, I wanted something light and fluffy. And Maisie, although intriguing, is not light and fluffy.
I requested the e-book from the library, but then waiting until it was nearly due three weeks later before I started it...and with more than a bit of trepidation. And I was right about the heartache. I had thought that the heartache could go one of two ways, and it did go one of these directions, but with deeper repercussions than I had guessed. I won't say more; as River Song reminds us so often in
Doctor Who: Spoilers!
This mystery finds Maisie on Gibraltar in 1937. Just across the Spanish border of the British protectorate, civil war brings great suffering as the Fascists attempt to rout the Nationalists. Britain is walking a dangerous tightrope of appeasement in their attempts to avoid another European war like the one twenty years previously, a war in which Maisie had worked as a nurse near the front in France (see Book #1). But appeasing Fascism and Nazism will not work, as those on the ground are seeing daily.
Maisie happens upon a man who had just been murdered on the grounds of the premiere hotel in Gibraltar. And despite taking an extended break from her work as a psychologist and investigator, Maisie jumps right back in, delaying her journey home to Britain from India. The man killed was a well-known Jewish photographer who supported two sisters, and Maisie meets many intriguing people in her quest to discover Sebastian's murderer, including one who is linked to a beloved mentor in Maisie's life; she also finds herself facing an old acquaintance and the possibility of soon seeing others she knows from her work in Britain.
It's a bit of a slow burn, as many of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries are, but I love the depth in which Winspear takes her readers, revealing much of Maisie and of life and reality and learning to face both after major changes have hacked their way through one's existence. Once I got through a couple of chapters, I was hooked again.
Maisie Dobbs may be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, and for someone who reads close to 100 novels a year, that's saying something. I would love to have all of the series in hardcover lined up on my bookshelves so that I can dip into them at any time, but in the meanwhile, the library's e-book borrowing program works nicely, especially when I want to jump into the next book immediately.
I rarely give novels that are not classics higher than a "4," but this one deserves a "5" which I have only given to the first book in the series. After this book, I have only four more left in the series until Winspear pens another, so I may read some other books and then return to this series to savor my time with Maisie.
The Tutor's Daughter by
Julie Klassen
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
A Christian novel/mystery that isn't too preachy. Miss Smallwood accompanies her tutor father to the home of two former students who used to stay at their academy as the younger brothers require instruction, and Mr. Smallwood needs a change after the death of his wife two years previously.
Emma Smallwood had become friends with the younger Weston brother, Philip, but the older brother, Henry, had antagonized her constantly during his years at the Smallwood Academy. While her father is refreshed by the sea breezes of Cornwall, Emma finds herself in the odd position between servant and guest as she assists her father in teaching the 15-year-old twins, Julian and Rowan.
But their arrival is met with surprise as Lord Weston had forgotten to inform the rest of the family regarding his invitation to Mr. Smallwood and his daughter. Lady Weston, stepmother to the two older sons and mother to the twins plus ward to seventeen-year-old Lizzie Henshaw, is immediately suspicious of Emma's motivations, thinking that she seeks a husband of one of her older sons. Her rudeness dims Emma's usually positive attitude.
In addition, soon after their arrival, mysterious events begin to occur. The north wing of the house is forbidden, but Emma hears strange howls from its empty hallways. Someone enters Emma's room at night to steal her journal, then later returns it with a page torn out. Exquisite pian music wafts from the music room in the middle of the night, but Emma finds no one present when she seeks the mysterious musician. Philip suddenly returns home from Oxford with a garbled explanation, while Henry continues to be aloof; he also seems to be running the house instead of Sir Giles...and he never stops needling Emma just as he did when a boy. The twins are resentful and disrespectful, but Mr. Smallwood starts getting them in hand.
The Cornish coastline has long been the site of many a shipwreck, but the poorer people treat the cargo recovered from shipwrecks as their own, which they can do legally if there are no survivors. When Henry seeks to assist in the rescue of sailors as well as warning ships away from the rock-lined coastal beaches, he finds himself at odds with many villagers, including a sly, read-headed man named Teague who steals from survivors and seems to have an odd relationship with the Weston family.
When the threats become both more personal and dangerous, what will happen? And will Emma's faith, grown cold after the death of her beloved mother, finally find its way back, especially when confronted by the very real chance of death at sea?
This was a much better book than the other series I read by Julie Klassen. The characters were better-developed, and the faith elements were woven naturally into the story rather than being awkwardly forced. Overall, this was a mysterious tale with Gothic elements, a bit of romance, tons of suspense, and some thrilling excitement!!
Why Kings Confess by
C.S. Harris
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
This ninth book of the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries was amazing!
More people from Sebastian's past seem to be making appearances as the most propitious time in his life is about to occur. He finds himself a target as some of the French emigres from the French Revolution remain in London, including the Bourbons who are hoping to take back their throne from that Corsican upstart, Napoleon.
When a young doctor is murdered just before Sebastian happens on the scene, he feels drawn to solving the murder--and several more that occur, all seemingly focused on discouraging a small delegation from France who hopes to gain English support for a return of the royalists to France. The man who would become Louis XVI remains in England as well as the daughter of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV, both hoping to be restored to their "rightful" place in Paris.
In the middle of all of this drama is Paul Gibson, a one-legged Irishman and Sebastian's best friend. He does autopsies for the police and brings home the sister of the murdered man. She was badly beaten but left alive when her brother was killed and his heart ripped out. Her life also seems to be in danger from the same ones who killed her brother, plus because she testified against a man for killing his wife and the man died in jail, the man's brother is stalking her and threatening to kill her.
Sebastian finds himself embroiled in the story of the possible escape from the Bastille by the young Dauphin and the possibility of his existence is a question that seems to be at the heart of the murders being committed on the wet streets of London while France is once again undecided between a republican government or the "return of the King."
Sebastian must also face the very real fears regarding what frightened many a young man in this time: the coming birth of a child and the dangers inherent for both mother and offspring during this time when the best specialists in delivering children are men who still believe in "balancing the humours" by bloodletting and basically starving pregnant women to keep them calm. With pregnancy complications, things do not look good...and if the mother dies, her father promises to kill Sebastian.
So yes, suspense fills this novel from the first chapter to the last, and it's a difficult book to put down. It's wonderful to see Sebastian in love again even if he fears the outcome of the pregnancy that he both hopes for and dreads. He's rather a changed man in some ways but not at all in others, but I find him and the other main characters to be fascinating characters with depth and breadth. A very well-written series!
* * * * *
Three of these books, as I mentioned before, are titles from my three favorite mystery series of the year. I read these earlier in the fall and have read additional books in all three series since I read these. In fact, I have only one book left in the Maisie Dobbs series, and only two left in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. I'm currently reading The Bloody Tower, the 16th book of the 23 titles in the Daisy Dalrymple series, so I have a few more delightful Daisy mysteries ahead of me. I'm saving the final Maisie Dobbs for the week between Christmas and New Year's, and I'll likely finish the Sebastian St. Cyr series in January.
Happy Reading!
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