THE ASHFORD AFFAIR by Lauren Willig
Lady Beatrice Gillecote is the kind of young lady who wafts through life on a cloud of expensive perfume, exuding effortless elegance. Her poor-relation cousin Miss Adeline Gillecote knows that she can never compete. However, far from feeling a simmering resentment at her lovely cousin’s society successes, Adeline “Addie” grows to love her cousin Beatrice […]
THE SCULPTRESS by Minette Walters
Having now read three or four of Ms. Walter’s books, I can tell you that her style is to have one extremely unpleasant scene near the beginning of the novel. Unfortunately, you are obliged to wade through this nausea-inducing scene before you get to the rest of the story. Which is a pity, as Ms […]
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY by John Le Carré
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY is one of John Le Carré’s most famous novels. Having read all of his George Smiley novels up until that point, I was expecting great things. I was to be disappointed. This was not due to the plot. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is about a Soviet mole in “The Circus” (otherwise […]
THAT SUMMER by Lauren Willig
Although the Victorian part of this novel takes place primarily in 1849, the novel itself actually opens ten years earlier, in 1839. Sixteen-year-old Imogen Hadley, the daughter of a vicar in out-of-the-way-but-lovely Cornwall, is absolutely besotted by antiquarian Arthur Grantham. Imogen’s father is a collector, and he has Book of Hours for sale. A Book […]
THE CARDINAL by Alison Weir
Alison’s Weir’s recent book THE CARDINAL, an historical novel about Thomas Wolsey (1471-1530), sheds light on the personality of Henry VIII. If, like me, you are used to seeing Henry as the paranoid monster of his later years, you will be very surprised to hear him described repeatedly by Ms Weir as “aimiable.” And yet […]
THE ICE HOUSE by Minette Walters
Minette Walter’s debut novel, THE ICE HOUSE (published 1992) opens with an arresting discovery of a decomposed body found in…you guessed it, the ice house. Lady of the Manor Phoebe Maybury lives with her female companions Diana Goode and Anne Cattrell. Of course, the villagers gossip about the three women, and not in a kind […]
THE LANGUAGE OF BEES ~ Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #9 ~ by Laurie R. King
When I find a writer I like, I read nearly everything they’ve written from beginning to end. And this series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes continues to deliver. Author Laurie King’s debut novel of this series ~ THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE ~ was absolutely marvelous. As I said to my husband recently (when trying to […]
BLOOD AT THE BOOKIES by Simon Brett
When Jude decides to visit the local betting shop one day to put a flutter on the Derby (or some such thing), she is met by the arresting sight of a young man staggering in, and collapsing, before blood pools around his inert form. Soon afterwards, he dies. But Jude has discovered the body, and […]
COTILLION by Georgette Heyer
He is powerfully built. He dresses well. He is extremely intelligent. With his charming bow and laughing eyes he captivates ladies without much trouble. But he is cruel. That truth takes nearly the whole length of this novel to sink into the head of Miss Kitty Charing, the heroine of Georgette Heyer’s novel COTILLION. But […]
THE GOLDEN ROAD by William Dalrymple
I have never heard of William Dalrymple before, and so the reason why I opened the pages of THE GOLDEN ROAD is because someone told me that the book was about how India was responsible for the numerals we use today. This was news to me, as I’d believed it to be the Arabs of […]
