Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

Once more we have Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacot knocking it out of the park in this detective series.  There are so many investigations they are juggling yet you won't be confused by the storylines as they are clearly explained.

I will say up front that I have seen very mixed reviews on this novel based on everything from the length of book to how fast the plot advanced to plain hate over J.K. Rowling and her opinions.  On Goodreads I have seen a post stating if you support Rowling/Galbraith they will unfriend you.  Seriously.

I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next in the series.  She stated in previous interviews the series would have seven books (just like the Harry Potter series). While the main characters, Cormoran and Robin, have an obvious attraction to one another, I am hoping she won't get them together until the last book.  If at all. For now let it be all investigative and mystery plotting. If you read it through you'll knpw the spark between them is genuine yet they don't want to ruin a great partnership and friendship.

The supporting characters were well fleshed out and I liked the addition of Strike's childhood friend Dave Polworth.  He cracks me up with his devotion to Cornish nationalism and his accent comes through as you are reading his parts.  He's a wonderful friend to Strike and comes through for him as Strike's Aunt Joan is dying of cancer.

A new detective at the agency named Saul Morris is one that brings drama.  My husband was ahead of me reading this book as I had another novel to finish.  He knew when Saul did something reprehensible as I suddenly said, "Oh no he didn't!" - Doug knew I'd gotten to "that part" of the book.  No spoilers from me.

Margot Bamborough is the main case focused on here, a cold case from 40 years ago. Her daughter is Anna Phipps and she hires Strike to take a last look at this cold case. There are quite a few suspects and I can say I never saw it coming when all was revealed.

Looking forward to more of this series.  Great writing.  

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

 

Nigella Lawson's Christmas Pudding Hunt for 2020

Nigella Lawson is one of my favorite cooks and I love each and every cookbook she has written.  Did you know she does a contest during the Christmas holidays?

Nigella’s Christmas Pudding Hunt started again and I was way late to the party.  You can still sign up and play along.  Click on the link HERE and sign in to your Nigella account or start one up if you like.  There is a link for logging in via Facebook but I am not a FB member so, I can't advise you there.

Here is one of the clues.  It's fun looking for the correct recipe and if you win, yoou'll receive a dynamite gift basket!  Maybe a cookbook too.

The prize is a Christmas hamper filled with goodies.

I wish I had remembered to look for her annual prize hunt earlier in Decemeber but, as I said, it's easy to catch up and play along.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

Finding Home by Kate Field

This a story about Miranda Brown and how her life changes dramatically after helping an older couple who are stranded. 

Miranda goes by the name Mim.  She has been living out of her car after losing her job but she takes all this lightly as her life had not been easy. She never knew her father and was abandoned by her mother by the time she was eight years old, grew up in foster homes and had to make her own way in life.  

Bea and Bill Howard are old enough to be her parents; they are stranded just before new years and need to get from Lancashire to their home in Devon.  Mim spontaneously offers to help and drives them home knowing they will refuel her car and she can head back north. Work is scare at this time of year so she can take the time to drive this nice couple.

When they arrive in Devon she is invited to stay at one of their holiday caravans for the night.  There will be a wedding the next day and Mim is offered work with the catering service, perfect for someone like her with former hotel experience.  The family has four adult children and they are so very nice; not at all stuck up rich despite the estate and ammenities they grew up with.  This is a bit of a Cinderella story without the royalty.

What I liked: The setting in Devon was nice. It was also nice to read about Mim's first experience viewing the sea.  With the exception of Janet the characters were all likeable as was the plot. The cover is quite pretty and that would have drawn me to pick up the book in a bookstore and see what the book was about.

What I didn't like: Mim was described as stubborn and proud but sometimes her refusal or taking exception to a free cup of tea or use of heat in the caravan went too far.  Yes, we get it that Mim was not a charity case and she was proud but that could have been toned down a bit. 

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.  This will be published April 16, 2021.

Genre: General Fiction/Romance/Women's Fiction

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

The Searcher by Tana French

The Searcher was another of Tana French's novels which had me hooked from the start.  I loved the setting and having been fortunate enough to visit Ireland a few times, she nailed the atmosphere.  The dialogue, the way the chill and cold was described as seeping into your bones, the banter at the pubs - loved it.

These charatcers were brought to life and I felt I was in the room when they were talking in the pub or at Cal's cottage.  Cal Hooper was a likeable enough character and while he could be villager in a future novel, I don't see him as playing a major part as a detective coming up. I mention this as I saw some reviews which expressed interest in seeing him in an upcoming novel.  I just don't see how that could work.

He is after all a retired American detective trying to find peace and quiet in beautiful Ireland. A child named Trey seems to stalk him and eventually asks Cal to investigate the disappearance of Trey's older brother.  He agrees and while it seems an unlikely scenario for an American to involve himself in an investigation all on his own, it all plays out to a satisfactory ending.  You get some surprises and if you didn't like Witch Elm, her last book, you'll be glad this plot and set of characters was an improvement.

That being said, I much prefered the Dublin Murder Squad series and long for Tana French to return to those type novels.  I loved the way a minor character in an investigation was given a bigger role in the next book.  Give me Frank Mackey, Cassie Maddox, Rob Ryan and Stephen Moran again.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Fallen Angel by Jenny O'Brien

 

The setting is northern Wales and our recovering detective Gaby Darin is back in the third installment of this series.  Gaby is acting Detective Inspector while the the current DI is on sick leave trying to beat cancer. 

As there seems to a lull in crime in Llandudno, DI Darin and her team look into old cold cases.  Her right hand man and friend Owen Bates brings her the case about Angelica Brock.  She was found in a remote area with her white blonde hair spread around her like a halo, dressed in an old white nightdress which was not her own and curled in a fetal position.  There wasn't DNA to help then.

The case from over 20 years ago looked like a random killing but as the team goes over the old case notes connections appear with other unsolved murders, too many to be coincidence.  There are good surprises woven into the storyline and I very much enjoyed the detectives' interaction with one another. I am especially fond of the medical examiner Rusty Mulholland. 

Thank you to Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book.  This was published 20 November 2020 and is the third book in the Detective Gaby Darin series. I was not compensated for my review.

Genre is Mystery and Thrillers/Adult Fiction

2021 nonfiction Reader Challenge

 Next year I will be partiipating in the Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out.  Check out the sign up post and info HERE.

The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2021. There are twelve categories of topics and this year I think I will stick with the Nonfiction Nibbler. 

Categories are as follows:

1. Biography

2. Travel

3. Self-help

4. Essay Collection

5. Disease

6. Oceanography

7. Hobbies

8. Indigenous Cultures

9. Food

10. Wartime Experiences

11. Inventions

12. Published in 2021

Holding by Graham Norton

 I have become a huge fan of Graham Norton's books.  This book was his first but I am just getting to it.  Once I'd read A Keeper I knew I wanted all of his books. 

The setting is a very small Irish village called Dureen.  Everyone knows one another and likely knows everyone else's business.  The major characters are Sgt. P.J. Collins, the only Garda in the town with little in the way of crime to keep his investigative skills sharp.  He is overweight and often laughed at but things will change for him once a murder investigation begins.  Old bones are discovered buried at a former farm and it's suspected to be a young man who disappeared some 30 years ago.

The Ross sisters have their own stories and secrets.  Abigail, Florence and Evelyn are unmarried and live together at their father's farm. Both parents are dead and the back story to their lives is quite sad.

Brid and Anthony are another couple with a complicated storyline, not complicated to read just a matter of when their secrets intersect and the results that follow. Cryptic, I know, but I don't want to give spoilers. 

The characters were well developed and you grow to like almost all of them.  There is enough mystery and dark humor to keep you turning the pages and I hope Mr. Norton has a long and successful writing career.  He can count on me to buy all forthcoming books.

If you like a bit of drama and dark humor, as well as the Irish setting, you will enjoy this book.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2021

Marg of The Intrepid Reader blog is the host for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge in 2021.

I do like a book challenge and I'm signing up for the Medieval level with 15 books.  

Here are the levels:

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

The sign up page may be located HERE so check it out if you'd like to join in for 2021.

Happy  reading!

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

The Good Sister is a twisty story about twins who have an unconventional upbringing. They are devoted to one another and you'll learn more about their relationship through journals as written by Rose. Fern is the sister who is completely dependent on Rose yet is quite a capable young woman, one who doesn't realize her potential and abilities.  

Fern is so likeable but there is something a bit off about her.  She has a keen mind for detail and a practical way of examining a situation.  Black and white with no gray area, as an engineer, socially awkward yet confident.

Rose appears to have her life together, has a lovely home and clearly takes care of Fern. Still, Rose's husband has left her and she wants to have a baby.  Right from the beginning you will see how Rose manipulates Fern, steers her a particular direction  so it seems it's Fern's idea. 

We read about the childhood experiences she and Fern endure through her journals and their mother is not kind.  It's a dysfunctional family drama with hints of the ending  surfacing early on in the book.  Still, it's well written and I wasn't tempted to put it aside. The sister with the dark side is gradually developed in this story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review and opinions are all mine.  This book will  be published 13 April 2021.

Genre is mystery and thriller/women's fiction.

 Sally Hepworth is an Australian author who lives in Melbourne, Australia.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

This is a book about three different generations of women in England all set in the same place.  We read about their lives in Warwickshire at Highbury House.

Venetia Smith's chapter begins talking about how a garden project inspres her. "Each new garden is like an unread book, it's pages brimming with possibilty."

Beth's story is set in 1944.  She is a land girl and moves from Dorking to Warwickshire, settling in on a farm and loving it. Beth's back story told how she was orphaned as a young girl, taken in my her aunt but never shown love or support.  Her aunt had a duty to her and while she was fed and clothed, it was clear she had no emotional attachment to niece.  

Getting assigned as a land girl to a country couple who showed approval and kindness changed her life.  Her chapters at Highbury House during the war were interesting.

In present day, 2021 actually, Emma Lovell has a business called Turning Back Thyme where she designs gardens and also does her favorite thing, restorations.  Her inspiration is Venetia who originally designed the lush and complex gardens at Highbury House back in 1906.  I enjoyed getting to know Emma as she started to join in with village events such as the weekly pub quiz.  The team she ended up on was called Menace to Sobriety, I thought that was very funny.

The gardens are an entity in it's own as much of the story focuses on the designs and restoration of the terraced "rooms". A tea garden where polite company meet leads to the lover's garden brimming with flowers and plants in hues of passionate reds and pinks, then the bridal garden, the children's garden and the winter garden.  In Venetia's time is was being designed, Beth came along while the house was requisitioned as a hosital and the gardens were in a state of wildness.  Emma had the restoration job of trying to find out what it orginally looked like.  As the stories interwined I was unable to put this book down.  Dinner was late last night because I was near the end and had to finish!

This is my first experience with this author and I plan to seek out more of her work.  Julia Kelly did her research about requistioned houses during WW II and provided us with titles ot read more on that subject at the end of her book.

While I am not a fan of straight out romance novels, this book had just enough of the romantic element to work well within the storyline. I loved the ending and all mysteries about the people and the Winter Garden were solved.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.  This is scheduled for publication 12 January 2021.  The genre is historical ficion and women's fiction.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for the British Isles Friday linkup.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

 

This is a difficult book to review.  There are so many twists  in the plot in spite of it being a slow burn of a read.  It does start off slowly, in my opinion, but you will be rewarded with the surprise ending.  

The story unfolds in the form of Rowan Caine's letters to an attorney.  She is basically begging him to help her as she is in prison for the murder of a child and she says she is innocent.  In order for her story to make sense to the attorney she must set the scene and describe how she got the job and what went on the isolated Scottish home.  It's Rowan's point of view throughout until the end.

Rowan answers an advertisement for a full time nanny.  The position comes with an amazingly generous salary and all sorts of perks.  As the home is located in an isolated part of Scotland and four previous nannys have resigned after a short period, the employer wants to be assured of a commitment for at least one year.  The rumors of the "smart house" being haunted is addressed and as Rowan doesn't believe in ghosts she accepts the position. However, there is another reason why Rowan wants this position, which will be revealed later, which changes how you view things. (Cryptic, I know, but I can't give a spoiler)

The smart house was a character of it's own with it's extensively built-in technology. The shower was programmed for former nannys in regard to spray and temperature.  The program called Happy could respond to voice commands such as stating close the curtains or turn off a light.  There were cameras everywhere and that alone was creepy.

The employers are a husband and wife team who are out of town frequently, demonstrating and designing the high tech build-ins for homes.  This means the nanny will be left for some length of time with the couple's four children.  This happens almost immeditatly and we see Rowan isn't the perfect nanny she presented herself as durng the interview. There are many secrets about Rowan;  near the 80% part of the book just about all is revealed.  

Revelations about Rowan, the children, the hired man Jack and Mr. Elincot.  Oh, the secrets explode and make so much sense....you will think back to why such and such happened.  The Ah moments.

The ending was a surprise and I have gone back and reread the last 3 chapters.  Lots of questions about what I think may have happened.  It would be a spoiler to discuss here so you would just have to judge for yourself.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.