Christmas 1924 is rapidly approaching and Lady Eleanor Swift and her fiance are looking forward to a quiet romantic festive period to plan their future together. But plans go awry when they are summoned to a shooting party by the Duke of Auldwyke and their host’s secretary is murdered within minutes of their arrival…
A Midwinter Murder is the 20th book in the Lady Swift series of cosy historical murder mysteries. Her redoubtable butler, Clifford, and long suffering fiance, Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon, assist her in trying to catch the killer and save Christmas!
Ellie turned down the invite to attend the duke’s annual shooting party but her RSVP was lost and now she feels honour bound to uproot herself and her staff in order to attend. Her host is the reclusive Duke of Auldwyke who hasn’t been seen in public since the death of his wife. The prize for winning the shooting competition is an audience with His Grace and the granting of a wish. But the only thing Ellie wants is to bring a murderer to justice.
There are a range of suspects among the guests and staff. Ellie, Hugh and Clifford have various motives to explore and their investigation reveals many alibis are not true. I was kept guessing until the reveal at the end, although I did deduce part of the direction the case was heading in.
Ellie brings her entourage along with her which offers some light hearted relief, especially Gladstone and Tomkins (the pets). I loved the festivities and jollity of the ladies which brought a real warmth to their parts of the narrative. There are some big conversations with her fiance Hugh as they plan their future together.
A Midwinter Murder is an enjoyable murder mystery and I enjoyed the historical details.
Book Description:
Homemade baubles, reindeer-shaped cookies and snowy walks across the rolling moors… but Lady Swift’s festive plans are ruined when a body turns up!
Winter 1924. When Lady Eleanor Swift unexpectedly finds herself a guest of the reclusive Duke of Auldwyke, she’s determined to enjoy Christmas with all the trimmings at his sprawling manor house. And that includes kisses under the mistletoe and cozying up by the fire with her fiancé, dashing detective Hugh Seldon.
Instead, the season of goodwill turns frosty as she finds the Duke’s studious secretary, Mr Porritt, dead in the storeroom. Clasped in his chilly hand is a golden pendant in the shape of a rose. The Duke denies ever having seen the necklace before. But Eleanor can see the lies in his eyes… Did it belong to his mysteriously absent wife?
Hugh and Eleanor must ditch relaxing with hot cocoa in favour of interviewing the Duke’s holiday guests. Every suspect has a secret they’d kill to keep: the socialite with the false name, the Sir with a questionable inheritance and the husband hiding a crack in his marriage.
As the blizzard outside rages, Auldwyke Hall becomes cut off. Trapped by the snow, Eleanor and Hugh must skate around the increasingly secretive Duke to unwrap the identity of the killer. But does the answer to the secretary’s murder lie with a ghost of Christmas past? And when an attempt is made on the Duke’s life too, they realise the killer is closer than they think…
A gripping and twisty Golden Age murder mystery set in a country house on the Yorkshire moors, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss!
Author Bio:
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank returns to work after the death of her husband and is put in charge of a pilot scheme into the use of AI. Will this new technology have a positive or negative effect on solving crimes…?
In the Blink of an Eye is a police procedural with a difference due to the AI scheme.
It has been an emotional few months for Kat but she is ready to return to her policework, only this time she has an AI member of the team to contend with. Lock can take on different manifestations but cannot attune to the subtleties of human compassion and gut instinct that Kat thinks are crucial to being a good officer.
The first stumbling block is the choice of case to investigate. Kat has been told that she is only able to look at cold cases under the AI remit. Her team choose one case and the AI programme picks another. She decides to investigate both to compare and contrast human versus robot but she starts to notice unexpected similarities in the two cases.
The majority of the book is written to show the police investigation but there are also chapters to show an unnamed man being held captive and drugged. The latter creates a wonderful tension and I made the asumption that the man is one of the two missing teens, but which one? I was completely swept up in the plot and lives of the characters. The AI element gave a unique and fascinating dimension to the book which I really enjoyed.
In the Blink of an Eye is a brilliant police procedural with a great team (human and virtual!)
Book blurb
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds.
Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.
DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.
AI versus human experience.
Logic versus instinct.
With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?
Eleven years ago, Aaron Alexander was convicted and imprisoned for killing 9 year old Joshua by running him over while high on drugs. He has served his sentence and is released from prison and Joshua’s mum is determined to kill him. Can Tobias stop his wife from exacting her terrible revenge…?
Redemption is a tense and emotional thriller set in America.
Evelyn has been planning her revenge on her son’s killer and is now ready to put her plan into action. Her husband goes along with it but is hoping to persuade her to change her mind. So Evelyn drugs him and abandons him at a hotel so she can proceed. Tobias has to think on his feet to reach Aaron and protect him.
Wow. What a fantastically dreadful premise. The death of a child is one that no parent ever wants to imagine. Tobias and Evelyn have been driven apart by their grief and her determination to seek revenge. The book is written from the first person narratives of Evelyn, Tobias and Aaron. Each character is vividly depicted and the emotion was raw and honest. They are three dimensional characters and inspire a range of emotions in the reader.
There are some violent episodes and mentions of abuse and suffering. However these emphasise the emotional motivation of the characters rather than being gratuitous. I loved the dilemma scenario created and sustained throughout the book. Do two wrongs ever make a right? The book concludes satisfactorily and I felt uplifted by the hope for the future, that all characters got the redemption they deserved.
Redemption is a brilliant thriller full of complex emotions.
Book blurb
Aaron Alexander has just been released from jail after serving eleven years for causing the death of Joshua Moore in a hit-and-run. Now a free man, all he wants to do is stay on the straight and narrow and leave his troubled past behind him.
But for Joshua’s mother Evelyn, eleven years in jail isn’t nearly enough. Consumed by grief and rage, she has been waiting for Aaron’s release, counting down the days until she can exact the revenge he deserves. And now that time has come.
However, as Evelyn and her husband Tobias embark on a road trip to track Aaron down, they soon find themselves caught on two different sides of a gripping game of cat-and-mouse. Because Tobias knows what Evelyn is planning, and he will do anything to save her from herself. Even if it means protecting the man who killed their son.
Locked in a collision course set in motion eleven years ago, Aaron, Evelyn and Tobias are about to find out whether the road they have chosen leads to retribution . . . or redemption.
It has been a pretty non-descript week (thankfully, after the awfulness of the last 3 weeks!) However I am NOT being overdramatic to say that toilet paper has ruined our week. I wasn’t able to buy our usual brand so bought another. Chris was happy as the alternative came in paper packaging which is obviously better for the planet. But the quality was terrible and by the end of the week I declared I couldn’t bear it any longer and everyone agreed!
The weekend saw normality restored as our usual brand was back in our bathroom. Hoorah! Elsewhere in the house, normality was being replaced by festivity as December began and the deorations went up.
Asher and Lily are a young couple looking hopefully towards a future together. Their relationship has its ups and downs but one day Lily dies and Asher is accused of her murder. Can his mother Olivia prove his innocence…?
TRIGGER WARNING: domestic abuse, hate crime, suicide attempts
Mad Honey is a family and legal drama set in America.
Olivia escaped her abusive marriage and rebuilt her life, taking over the family beehives. She thinks her son Asher has no contact with his father but he has been keeping secrets. Olivia is delighted that Asher has found contentment with Lily but both young people are hiding their pasts from each other.
There is plenty of drama and mystery as we consider how and why Lily may have died. The use of the alternating points of view allow the tension and character engagement to build for the reader. The characters all have a vulnerability which endear them and they are written authentically so we believe in their reality.
As Jodi PIcoult is one of the authors, the plot features significant, relevant and modern issues. I loved the to and fro of the court case and the plot developments that ensue. There is a major twist revealed during the court case and this changes the focus of the book and makes you rethink certain characters, their behaviour and experiences. I won’t give the twist away but I felt it was handled sensitively.
Mad Honey is a gripping drama, packed full of emotion.
Book blurb
Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.
Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.
And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .
Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.
