A Murderous Malady by Christine Trent

I listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the second book in the Florence Nightingale series. I had read the first book in the series, No Cure for the Dead, when it was lent to me by our Mystery Book Club leader, Kay. I really liked that book also. I was on a FB book club site a few weeks ago, and Christine Trent was the featured author one day. Once I realized there was a second book in the Florence Nightingale series, I picked if for my Audible choice for the month. 

holera has broken out in London, but Florence Nightingale has bigger problems when people begin dying of a far more intentional cause—murder.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London.

It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence’s friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife to Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Florence survives, but her coachman does not. Within hours, Sidney’s valet stumbles into the hospital, mutters a few cryptic words about the attack, and promptly dies from cholera. Frantic that an assassin is stalking his wife, Sidney enlists Florence’s help, who accepts but has little to go on save for the valet’s last words and a curious set of dice in his jacket pocket. Soon, the suspects are piling up faster than cholera victims, as there seems to be no end to the number of people who bear a grudge against the Herbert household.

Now, Florence is in a race against time—not only to save the victims of a lethal disease, but to foil a murderer with a disturbingly sinister goal—in A Murderous Malady.

About: 
"Cholera has broken out in London, but Florence Nightingale has bigger problems when people begin dying of a far more intentional cause—murder.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London.

It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence’s friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife to Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Florence survives, but her coachman does not. Within hours, Sidney’s valet stumbles into the hospital, mutters a few cryptic words about the attack, and promptly dies from cholera. Frantic that an assassin is stalking his wife, Sidney enlists Florence’s help, who accepts but has little to go on save for the valet’s last words and a curious set of dice in his jacket pocket. Soon, the suspects are piling up faster than cholera victims, as there seems to be no end to the number of people who bear a grudge against the Herbert household.

Now, Florence is in a race against time—not only to save the victims of a lethal disease, but to foil a murderer with a disturbingly sinister goal—in A Murderous Malady."

 There are really two mysteries to this story; who attacked Elizabeth and why are so many people coming down with cholera. Florence is determined to solve both mysteries. We get to see not only the caring, nurturing and hardworking side of Florence the nurse, but also her determination, courage and ability to stand up to people as Florence the detective. This book has many factual instances and most of the characters were real people.

I like this series so much for a few reasons. I am a nurse and know all about Florence Nightingale. I think I even read her autobiography when I was young. Nurse's week was the week of May 6th, ending on May 12th, Florence's birthday. I listened to it during that time. I had read about the cholera epidemic in London before and knew much of what Christine writes about is true to what was happening. When cholera was a story line in the series Victoria, this year, I had to go read about it. Florence is asked to help get Middlesex Hospital up to par and assist in caring for all the people coming in with cholera. I have relatives that live in the Middlesex area so of course that interested me.  As I mentioned, many of the characters in the book were also people that Florence knew and many of the circumstances have some truth to them. The author has very cleverly written an intriguing story incorporating all of these people that really lived, and were friends and acquaintances of Florence. The audible book shares this history at the end and I presume the book does also. I found the book very intriguing and interesting. The book ends with what I hope is an opening for the next book.

Check out Christine's website. She writes of historical fiction too.

https://christinetrent.com/

Deception Bay by Chris Patchell

Recently read another great thriller by Chris Patchell.

Deception Bay

About: 

"She’s armed. He’s dangerous. Together, can they stop a killer from tearing a small island community apart?

When wise-cracking cozy mystery author, Austin Martell, left his hometown on Whidbey Island for the bright lights of New York, he vowed he would never go back. But some promises are impossible to keep, and when Austin discovers that his mother has suffered a serious accident, he has no choice but to return. Austin soon learns that her accident may be no accident at all, and secrets that were laid to rest after his brother’s tragic death off the coast of Deception Bay, have now begun to surface.

Austin finds himself in the center of a real-life murder mystery, when Police Chief Ellie Sharpe uncovers a curious connection between the author and the death of a local businessman. Born and raised on Whidbey and trained as a New York cop, Ellie is smart, and tough, and determined to solve the mystery behind the killing before more people die. Sparks fly as the two pair up to figure out who is responsible for the murder. The closer they come to discovering truth, the more desperate someone is to keep the sins of the past from coming to light.

Someone close to Austin harbors a deadly truth. Can Ellie unmask a killer before Austin becomes one more secret buried beneath the waves of Deception Bay?"

 Although Austin and his mother have a strained relationship since the boat accident that took his brother, he wants to find out what happened to her, get the house cleaned up while he stays there, so something about her crazy cat, get his mother set up with help at home  and get back to New York as soon as possible.Easier said than done. His publisher is calling him nonstop about a book signing and getting started on his next book. Women he knew in high school, are throwing themselves at him.  Someone breaks into the house and seems to be searching for something. And now someone is after him. It seems there is more to his mother's accident than a fall, and perhaps something more to his brother's accident. 

I really liked this book. I have read one other of Chris's books but have two others in my TBR list. :/ Like "In the Dark", this book is "can't put it down" book. It reads pretty fast.  There are plenty of suspects from Austin's past, a little romance and lots of suspense.

Check out Chris's website. If you like thrillers and suspense, I recommend any of her books.

https://www.chrispatchell.com/

I received a free book and voluntarily provided this review.

Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2)

I listened to Silkworm by Robert Galbraith over the past couple of weeks. This is book two in the Cormoran Strike series. Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for R.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter series.

It is a crime fiction/thriller book.

About: "When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before. "

I had read the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling, in our book club and liked it a lot. I really like the main characters, Cormoran and Robin, his assistant. We learn more about Cormoran in this book. One thing about his past is that his has a half brother, Al. They share a famous singer for a father... just like the "singer Tom Jones." Cormoran doesn't have a relationship with his father just like Tom Jones. (This is a point made in the story, so I had to go look it up. It is allegedly a fact.)

 Corcoran calls on Al for help on the case. Robin is engaged to Matthew and the wedding is coming up. They already share an apartment. Matthew is not too keen on Robin's choice of employment, or on Corcoran.

So...the narrator for the Audible book was very,  very good. He was able to change up his voice and various English accents enough so you felt you were listening to different men, women, with different accents. It was very long. 17 1/2 hours I believe. The murder is very brutal and described in detail...several times. It got to be too much for me to keep hearing about it. I really like Corcoran and Robin. I listened to it through the end because I was hoping for a different ending or beginning for the characters. 

Just found out, this is a BBC series and was picked up by HBO for their Cinemax channel. You may be able to find it there if you like the books. I will have to think about whether or not I want to go on to the third book. I liked the Harry Potter series alot by the way. 

Memory Man - David Baldacci - A book club pic

We read Memory Man by David Baldacci for our Mystery Book Club selection for May.
It is the first in the Memory Man series featuring Amos Decker.

"The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect--he can never forget anything.

The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare--his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered.

His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can.

But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice."

This was my first Baldacci novel. Yes I had heard of him but never had the chance to pick up one of his books. There was a couple of others in the MBC group that had never read any of his books either, so I didn't feel as bad.

What we thought: Everyone liked the book. There were a couple of people that had been in a reading slump, nothing they started appealed to them and they put the books down. Memory Man though, turned them around. They read the whole book, and proceeded to get the next books in the series. Two people that had read the entire series previously, has ordered all the books again from the library. One person felt Amos had Sherlockian qualities in his power of deduction. One said Amos wasn't at all like Sherlock, using mostly his incredible memory. We talked about the memory Amos had - hyperthymesia;  "a condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail."  I had seen a couple of shows on the brain and was aware of this and also how some people see colors with things such as music. Marilu Henner, the actress, has this. A few members didn't realize this was a real thing, and were happy to hear it wasn't made up. Many of us joked before the meeting how we don't have hyperthymesia. (In fact I had to keep going back and forth to get the correct spelling. lol)  All said it was a quick read, fast paced. 

In case you didn't know much about David Baldacci, like me, here is a link to his website and the other 43 books he has written.

 The fifth book in the Memory man series just came out - Redemption.

https://www.davidbaldacci.com/

Featuring - Daryl Wood Gerber/Avery Aames

I met a new author on a couple of online book clubs this month that I want to introduce you to. I had fun getting to meet her. She writes cozies and suspense/thrillers. (She is also very generous in her giveaways.😄 ) Daryl also writes under the name Avery Ames.

About:  "Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber writes the French Bistro Mysteries as well as the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries.

As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries.

Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense: Day of Secrets and Girl on the Run.

As an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote, Hart to Hart and Matlock." She loves to cook and has some great recipes in her books and on her blog.

As Daryl Wood Gerber

• Cook Book Nook Mysteries: There are eight books in this series (Sifting Thru the Clues just came out this week). 

  "In need of a change, Jenna Hart leaves the high-pressure world of advertising to help her aunt, Vera, open a culinary bookshop and café. Back with her family in Crystal Cove, California, Jenna seems to have all the right ingredients for a fresh start--until someone adds a dash of murder." 

• The French Bistro series: There are two books in this series.

It's always been Mimi Rousseau's dream to open her own bistro, but it seems beyond her grasp since she's been chased back home to Nouvelle Vie in Napa Valley by her late husband's tremendous debt. Until her best friend Jorianne James introduces her to entrepreneur Bryan Baker who invests in promising prospects. Now, working the bistro and inn until she's able to pay it off and call it her own."

• Day of Secrets is a stand alone novel, a supense/thriller.

"A mother he thought he’d lost. A father he never knew. An enemy that wants them dead.

At the age of five, Chase Day became an orphan. For thirty-one years, after a rebellious youth, he did his best to turn his life around and build a normal life—first as a Naval officer and then as a history professor at a boutique Bay Area college. Now, all that changes when he finds his mother, whom he thought had perished in a fire, dying from a gunshot wound. In her last breath, she urges him to find and protect the father he never knew. Where has his father been? Why has he never made contact? Can Chase discover why his family is a target before an unknown enemy destroys him?"

• Girl on the Run: A stand alone novel, suspense/thriller.

"When a fairytale fantasy night becomes a nightmare, Chessa Paxton must run for her life...but will the truth set her free?

Chessa Paxton, an event planner in Lake Tahoe, celebrates a successful night at the Happily Ever After Ball, but her dream quickly becomes a nightmare when she wakes up beside the body of her dead husband. Nauseous and confused, feeling as if she's been drugged, she can't explain to the sheriff why her princess costume is bloodied. With her father already a convicted murderer, she feels invisible shackles ratcheting onto her wrists and ankles. She runs! But she can't escape vivid flashes of memory: a massacre in a meadow; men and women in fairy tale costumes; Snow White’s dead body shielding her from bullets.

Though Chessa is a former costumer and a master of disguise, she quickly learns that hiding while trying to prove herself innocent is the most difficult task imaginable. Especially when the sheriff wants to throw her in jail and the real killer wants to silence her forever."

• The Cheese Shop Mysteries written as Avery Aames: There are seven books in this series. Daryl won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel for the first book in the series, "The Long Quiche Goodbye."

The protagonist of the series, is Charlotte Bessette. Charlotte runs the Fromagerie Bessette cheese shop (aka “The Cheese Shop”) in the fictional town of Providence, Ohio. You can find out more about Daryl and her books on her website: http://darylwoodgerber.com/ Daryl is also a contributor to a wonderful blog with seven other authors: Mystery Lovers' Kitchen. I made a cake Daryl shared the recipe for; Gooey Butter Cake and it was soooo good. I also have my eye on Curry Egg Salad. https://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/ I am looking forward to reading three of her books I now have: Pressing the Issue, Sifting Thru the Clues, For Cheddar or Worse. Please check our Daryl Wood Gerber's many books. I am sure you will find a great read.

Family Secrets by Shawn McGuire and Hide Not Seek by D.E. Haggerty

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Do you recognize that quote? The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

I feel like that has been me that past few weeks. lol I went out of town for a family wedding. Got caught in the middle of the plane fiasco and  coming back to work was like jumping on a moving train. So I am going to tell you about two books, one I listened to before my trip and the other I just finished this weekend.

Family Secrets is the first book in the Whispering Pines series by Shawn McGuire.



About:

"Sixteen years after a family feud drove her from the cozy Northwoods village of Whispering Pines, Wisconsin, former detective Jayne O'Shea returns to prepare her grandparents' lake house for sale. Once there, not only does she find that the house has been trashed, her dog discovers a dead body in the backyard.

Jayne intends to stay out of it, but when it becomes obvious the sheriff isn't interested in investigating the death, Jayne can't stop herself. Her list of suspects grows faster than the plants in the commons' pentacle garden. Could it be the local Wiccan green witch with her stash of deadly plants? The shopkeeper who slips into trances and foretells death? The visitor determined to practice black magic?

What Jayne knows for sure is that the closer she gets to solving this crime, the more the sheriff wants her to back off. And when a local fortune teller provides a crucial clue, Jayne knows it's up to her to solve this murder."

What attracted me to this series is the setting, the northern woods of Wisconsin. My family is from northwest Wisconsin and we lived there when I was young, and then we spent our summer vacation there every year, visiting grandparents and other relatives. The setting reminded me so much of it; the woods, the lake houses, cabins, small towns, small business, and no traffic. 

Within the first couple of pages, the mystery begins. Jayne finds a body in the yard of her grandparents house. Luckily, Jayne was a policewoman but now she isn't. She can't help herself from getting involved because, as the blurb says, the sheriff doesn't seem to think it is his priority. In fact, he gives Jayne a temporary job, walking up and down the village to keep an eye on things, but it is really to keep her busy. 

A good mystery, a potential love interest and a ending opening up for another book in the series. I really liked it and plan on reading the other five books in the series...if I can get this merry go round to slow down. 

I finished Hide Not Seek this weekend. It is the third book in the The Reluctant Detective Series by D.E. Haggerty. Now, I will tell you that this book isn't going to be out until April 18th. 

About:

"Pru has a secret, which she has no plans to reveal – ever. But after a woman is murdered and all clues point to her, she has no choice but to disclose her true identity. When her revelations thwart the killer’s plan to frame Pru for murder, the killer begins stalking her. With each note he sends, he gets closer. The police are stumped. Pru wants to run away. She really, really wants to run, but Ajax has found the woman of his dreams and he’s not letting her go anywhere. He can be patient. In the meantime, he’ll protect her with his life. Pru isn’t feeling very patient, and her friends, Mel and Terri, are definitely not willing to wait until the police discover who the stalker is. The three friends take matters into their own hands and jump headfirst into the investigation.

Will Pru and her friends uncover her stalker before he turns his violence on Pru?"

This book grabs you right away with the first line of the book is the first note Pru receives in a series of threatening notes from an unidentified person. Pru has a secret and has come all the way from California to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to keep that secret. (Did I mention my other set of grandparents and mother were from Milwaukee? We spent a lot of time there too.)

The book was really good, and a quick read as Pru and her friends, Melanie and Terri, try to help her discover the identity of who is sending Pru the notes. A woman is found murdered and seems to be connected to Pru but she has no idea who the woman was. As the notes become more and more threatening, and include pictures of Pru with her friends, Pru's first thought is to run away and change her identity again. But can  Ajax, a man who is clearly falling for her, convince her to stay. Is Pru next? Sure seems like it.

Fast paced, with some humor as the three friends investigate (yes along with the police). Surprise ending.

Another thing I liked about the book, is that each chapter starts with a quote from a classic book. A few are Charlotte's Web, Leminy Snicket, Doctor Zhivago, Of Mice and Men, Winnie the Pooh etc. Really an interesting way to start a chapter. 

I want to read the first two books in the series; Finders Not Keepers and Picture Not Perfect. 

There are two other books in this series and I want to read those also.

I received a free book and voluntarily provided this review.

Laura Lippman month

It was Laura Lippman month at out Mystery Book Club. I think I had heard of her series but had not gotten a chance to read any of her books. We all read any book(s) written by Laura Lippman.

From her website:

"Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. 

Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.

She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade.

After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since. She is the daughter of the late Theo Lippman Jr., a Sun editorial writer who retired in 1995, and Madeline Mabry Lippman, a former Baltimore City school librarian. Her sister, Susan, is a local bookseller."

What did we read and what did we think?

There are 12 books in the Tess Monaghan series. Tess is a former Baltimore reporter turned accidental amateur P.I. I think about half of our group read the first novel in the series, Baltimore Blues.

About: 

"In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety—and his taste for illicit midday trysts—make the case front-page news in every local paper except the Star, which crashed and burned before Abramowitz did.

A former Star reporter who knows every inch of this town—from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill—now-unemployed journalist Tess Monaghan also knows the guy the cops like for the killing: cuckolded fiancé Darryl "Rock" Paxton. The time is ripe for a career move, so when rowing buddy Rock wants to hire her to do some unorthodox snooping to help clear his name, Tess agrees.

But there are lethal secrets hiding in the Charm City shadows. And Tess's own name could end up on that ever-expanding list of Baltimore dead."

All that read it, liked it and we felt we would read more of this series. Tess is a likeable character. Good development of characters and one unlikeable character in this book. :) I had just been in the Baltimore area and it was interesting to see references to some of the suburbs, streets etc. that I had seen on my trip.

The rest of the group read some of her stand alones. One person has read all of her books in the series. 
Books read for the MBC:
The Girl in the Green Rain Coat: Tess Monaghan #11
By a Spiders's Thread: Tess Monaghan #8

Stand Alones read:
The Most Dangerous Thing
I'd Know You Anywhere
After I'm Gone
And When She Was Good
Wilde Lake
By a Spiders Thread
Sunburn
What the Dead Know
Hardly Knew Her

Seemed like everyone enjoyed the books and would read other books by Laura Lippman. We recommend her!