Tag: mystery (Page 3 of 4)

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn | Book Review

September 27, 2023 / Monique

I become a huge fan of Kate Quinn after her book The Shrines of Gaiety and I have since inhaled The Rose Code and The Alice Network. The Rose Code is a masterful spy novel that alternates between flashbacks to the the 1940s wartime activities of at Bletchley Park and the days leading up to the royal wedding in 1947.

Three headstrong women answer the call to join the war effort at Bletchley Park. They do not know what they are getting into. Osla is a beautiful and wealthy debutante who puts her fluent German to use as a translator. Mab is an east-end London powerhouse who is a towering beauty with a sharp set of eyebrows. And Beth is a mousey, downtrodden local girl with a panache for crosswords. She is a brilliant puzzle cracker and becomes one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.

But Beth also sniffs out a traitor and finds herself locked up in a sanitarium before the war is over.

Osla, Mab, and Beth are estranged because of a series of small betrayals between the friends. It means that Beth’s accusations are buried and Osla and Mab are not aware of the traitor until they receive a message from Beth that she has managed to smuggle out of the sanitarium. Will they help her?

The Rose Code is a fantastic story about the layers of friendships, betrayals, and loyalty. It’s fast paced, fun, and taps into some of the real history of the Park. I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did a great job of the various British accents and creating a veil of mystery.

See the Author website for more info.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk | Book Review

August 25, 2023 / Monique

First published in Polish in 2009 and newly translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a literary murder mystery set in a small Polish village. The novel opens with the death of a man in a remote forest area. Two neighbours go to investigate lights left on in the home and discover the man dead. They move the body, dress the man in a suit, and call it into the police. To do the latter, they have to climb a hill in order to get enough reception to call the Polish police vs. the Czechoslovakia authorities. .

Our protagonist Mrs. Duszejko is one of the neighbours. She teaches English at the village school and is an astrologer. She has nicknames for many members of the community: Oddball (the other neighbour), Big Foot (the dead neighbour), Dizzy (her friend with whom she translates Blake’s poetry), Good News (thrift shop woman), and Black Coat (Oddball’s son, who is also the police inspector).

Mrs. Duszejko is quite the character. She is convinced that the forest animals are seeking revenge on hunters in the area. As more men end up dead, her horoscopes and theories are presented repeatedly to the police who write her off as a crazy old crank. But there might be something to her madness.

Author Olga Tokarczuk is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and her novel Flights won the Man Booker International Prize. In Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, she pushes the reader to reflect on philosophical questions about human nature, our assumed superiority over animals, and the role we have in tending to the land. There is a quiet, unwinding to this tale.

I discovered this book at Upstart & Crow so I highly recommend you get your copy from them. The novel is published in Canada by Penguin Random House.

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff | Book Review

June 17, 2023 / Monique

The Thursday Night Murder Club and No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency would meet their match with The Bandit Queens. Where the former titles involve affable do-gooders with the common sense needed to solve their community’s problems, here we have gossipy housewives who watch too many crime dramas and are keen to off their husbands. That said, these women are charming.

Five years ago, Geeta’s good-for-nothing drunk of a husband ran off. The village believes she killed him, and the rumour persists, to the point where Geeta is ostracized from friends and others in the small community. She’s a member of a micro-loan club and when one of the members doesn’t show up with her weekly repayment, it’s left to Geeta—widowed and childless—to foot the bill so the whole loan group doesn’t go under. Instead of that endearing her amongst the women, one of whom is her former best friend, Geeta finds herself being blackmailed by the woman she help.

Turns out that Geeta’s reputation for getting rid of a n’er-do-well husband has the attention of the other wives who would also like to be widows. Geeta has some tricky cards to play, and she does not have a good poker face.

Parini Shroff’s debut novel is a wonderfully funny, a macabre, look at life in an Indian village. There’s witty women, sneaky husbands, minor criminals, unwitting accomplices, terrible dark crimes, caste hierarchies, sexism, and all manor of distractions and disruptions in this small village. This is one hell of a debut.

Published by Penguin Random House Canada

Watch the Barnes & Noble BookClub YouTube channel: Parini Shroff discusses The Bandit Queens

The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception by Katherine Cowley | Book Review

March 12, 2023 / Monique

My venn diagram of reading is spy novel meets literature. So I’m glad that ages ago at a marketing conference Scott Cowley mentioned his wife Katherine Cowley was writing Jane Austen spinoffs. I have read and loved all 3 books in the series (review #1, review #2).

In Jane Austen novels, Mary is the underestimated, often overlooked character, which makes her the perfect inspiration. In Katherine Cowley’s series, Mary Bennet is living a secret life as a spy for Britain.

The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception is set in Brussels. Napoleon Bonaparte has escaped from the Isle of Elba, and England with the Allied forces are preparing for war. Mary’s spy work has her in multiple disguises, befriending strangers, kissing men (oh the impropriety, it’s 1815), and learning the French waltz. It’s a fun and witty historical novel, influenced by Austen.

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

January 10, 2023 / Monique

Louise Penny is one of those authors that gets me hook, line and sinker, every time. I find her Chief Inspector Gamache so charming that it’s hard to not read each instalment in a single day. Yes, I binge read Louise Penny.

In this book (18th in the series), Gamache spends most of his time in Three Pines. Drama and murder has come to his door step. This book is a psychological thriller. It has some Silence of the Lambs characteristics. No cannibalism, but it’s steeped in psychological horror.

Without giving too much away: the story is told through a series of flashbacks to one of Inspector Beauvoir’s first cases with Gamache. Two children have been abused and their mother is murdered. The older child is convicted of the murder but Gamache suspects the younger was as involved, if not more. Memories of that tragedy are brought to the forefront in a present-day discovery of a mysterious painting locked away in a hidden room above the village bookstore. The children, now grown, are involved in the discovery but the danger to Gamache is unclear. There’s some psychological warfare happening right under his nose but it’s a puzzle within a puzzle that Gamache just can’t solve. It’s about revenge, but who is seeking the revenge? Gamache has enemies.

Louise Penny is a fabulous writer. The Gamache books have always woven in art and music, along with politics and suspense. There’s less politics in this one and more psychological thriller. The series has steered that way since an absolute page-turner two books ago, The Devils Are Here, which was set in Paris, France. If you’re new to Louise Penny and don’t want to go all the way back to book #1 then I’d start partway through the series at #7 A Trick of Light.

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

December 21, 2022 / Monique

Get ready to step into the grittiness of London and the glam (and gangs) of Soho clubs during the period between the World Wars.

Our cast of characters includes:

Nellie Coker who is newly released from prison and back to managing her infamous nightclubs.
Chief Inspector Frobisher who’s cleaning up corruption on the streets and in his own force.
Gwendolyn Kelling who’s in London from York and looking for two runaway girls who are hoping to make their fame on the stage–and are likely to end up at one of Coker’s clubs as a dance hostess.
Nellie’s children: Niven (the eldest and most put together), Edith (the brains of the operation), the twins Betty and Shirley, the youngest girl Kitty, and the youngest boy Ramsey (coke addict and aspiring novelist).

It’s an all-star cast. They are each great in their own way and their lives are woven together like a braid. The storytelling is amazing and I cheered for each of them. The basic rivalry is between the Cokers and Frobisher, with Miss Kelling caught in the middle. But actually they all face another nemesis and that’s what lets readers cheer for them all.

The dialogue is wonderful. The quality of word choice is top notch. The quick wits and pacing of the novel is superb. I can’t say enough. I loved this book.

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson is available from Penguin Random House.

Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

December 1, 2022 / Monique

Who Is Vera Kelly? is a quick witted spy novel set in 1960s Buenos Aries. Vera is newly recruited to the CIA and soon enough finds herself wiretapping congressmen and infiltrating a group of student activists.

Vera is smart, a fast learner, a lesbian, and about to find out what it’s like to be caught up in Cold War politics during a coup.

Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery is the follow-up story. Vera is back in New York and loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day. But Vera is feisty and sets up shop as a female detective. Suddenly she’s on hot on the trail of a Dominican exile who’s wanted by Dominican Republic President Balaguer (and his goon squad). Vera can’t depend on the CIA (although could she ever). So it’s just her and her wits. And I must say, Vera is witty.

Rosalie Knecht has crafted a tight Cold War spy series. A bit of a nod to the character driven Le Carré style of writing but more modern. If you liked Ben MacIntyre’s The Spy and the Traitor or David Benioff’s City of Thieves, then you’ll like the dark, slow burn of these novels.

A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden

November 3, 2022 / Monique

A Trace of Deceit is a great whodonit and peak into the world of art auctions. Miss Annabel Rowe is a young painter who’s studying at the Slade in London. She’s set to meet her brother Edwin for their regular Tuesday dinner but he never shows. Went she goes to his apartment, she finds two inspectors investigating his murder.

Annabel isn’t your usual Victorian lady who will demure and defer. She marches down to Scotland yard and demands to speak to Inspector Matthew Hallam. She has a plan and a plea that leads to her job shadowing Matthew.

They have a lovely romance that blooms out of their efforts to solve the mystery of Edwin’s death, recover a stolen valuable painting, and catch the culprits.

The behind-the-scenes look at the art work, auction houses, and the underworld of politics and the shipping industry are highly entertaining. Author Karen Odden draws on some of her personal experience from working at Christie’s auction house in the mid-1990s.

My favourite moments were the descriptions of various paintings throughout the novel. It was a short course in art history and painting techniques.

Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day

February 22, 2022 / Monique

Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day is a classic Agatha Christie style mystery. Indeed the novel is set during World War II at Agatha Christie’s real-life country home, Greenway.

In real life, the home hosted a war nursery—children who were evacuated from London. In the novel, the children are managed by a couple—the Arbuthnots—and two hospital nurses. The thing is, neither of the nurses is certified. Gigi is some sort of spy or at least on the run, and Bridget Kelly is a disgraced nurse-in-training. She’s been sent on the assignment as a favour by the hospital Matron.

What transpires is not one murder, but two! And it is Bridget Kelly who manages to do the sleuthing.

Greenway is home to the Scaldwells, who are butler and cook, The Hannafords, gardener and chauffeur, and a colourful cast of village folks who are not keen on evacuees. Mrs. Mallowan (Agatha Christie) makes a brief cameo.

I found this novel thoroughly enjoyable. It’s historical fiction meets murder mystery. Think Poirot, but solved by the new girl.

The True Confessions of a London Spy by Katherine Cowley

February 6, 2022 / Monique

I absolutely LOVE Katherine Cowley’s The Secret Life of Mary Bennet Series. The books are smart and witty, and a wonderful nod to Jane Austen.

The True Confessions of a London Spy is the second novel in this trilogy. Our heroine, Mary Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, finds herself acting as a spy for the British government. She must juggle the expectations of a lady (extravagant balls, chaperones, and asking her brother-in-law permission to leave the house) along with solving the murder of a government messenger, spying on members of parliament, and avoiding harm.

If you’re an Austen fan then you know that Mary Bennet is the lesser known of the Bennet sisters. Elizabeth (Darcy) is often the star of the show. Mary is the middle child, with Jane and Elizabeth as her older sisters and Kitty and Lydia as her younger sisters. Being overlooked is quite familiar to Mary. It’s also what helps her.

Mary could admire Elizabeth. She could aspire to some of Elizabeth’s attributes, and she could use her knowledge of how Elizabeth acted in particular situations to help her take the best possible actions as a spy. But she would not let herself be consumed by envy. She could set it aside, and not let it be a focus of her attention. It was better to become one’s fullest self than to attempt to become someone else.
chapter 8

You don’t have to be a Jane Austen fan to love and appreciate these books, but if you are then I think you will come to adore Mary Bennet the way I do. She’s vain and pedantic and actually quite as beautiful as her older sisters and just as quick and mischievous as her younger sisters.

I absolutely cannot wait for the third book in this series. Full applause to Katherine Cowley for such a fun read.

Find the books at your local bookstore, check out the author’s site, or see my review of book 1 The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet.