Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Books Read - February/March 2020

Blake, Deborah
  • King Me! ***
Fiction.  Morgan and her coven cast a spell to find a hero to save the world. What she gets is a mythical king in the form of Arthur.  What she finds is love.

Christie, Agatha
  • 4:50 From Paddington *****
Fiction.  Tenth Miss Marple mystery.  An elderly woman sees a murder happen on a parallel train, but when no mention of it appears in the news, she appeals to Miss Marple to help solve the case, which she does with the help of the able Lucy.

  • A Caribbean Mystery *****
Fiction.  Eleventh Miss Marple mystery.  Miss Marple’s nephew springs for a Caribbean vacation, and as she spends her time knitting quietly, a murder is being planned, one that has happened before.

  • At Bertram’s Hotel ****
Fiction.  Twelfth Miss Marple mystery.  Miss Marple goes to Bertram’s Hotel in London for a brief holiday away from home, but what she finds is a crime syndicate and a murder/

  • Greenshaw’s Folly ****
Fiction.  Ninth Miss Marple mystery.  Miss Marple’s young friend gets a job transcribing diaries with an elderly woman.  When she sees the woman shot by an arrow, Miss Marple gets involved.

  • The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side *****
Fiction.  Eleventh Miss Marple mystery.  A famous actress and her husband have bought Gossington Hall, and the whole village is fascinated by them.  At a fete at the Hall, a local woman is greeted by the actress but ends up death moments later, and Miss Marple must solve the murder.

  • Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories *****
Fiction.  All of the short stories involving Miss Marple.

  • Nemesis *****
Fiction.  Thirteenth Miss Marple mystery.  Miss Marple is on another quest.  An old friend she met in the West Indies has died but has left instructions with his lawyer to engage Miss Marple in solving a mystery.  What the mystery is, he doesn’t say, but tickets on a bus tour of homes and gardens starts Miss Marple off on her way.

  • A Pocket Full of Rye ****
Fiction.  Eighth Miss Marple mystery.  A wealthy man is poisoned, and when his parlour maid is murdered, Miss Marple arrives to solve the mystery. 

  • Sleeping Murder *****
Fiction.  Fourteenth Miss Marple mystery.  A young couple buy a house that brings back memories for the wife, as she had lived there as a small child and had witnessed a murder.  Her father had claimed he was the killer and languished in a mental asylum, but the young couple, along with the help of Miss Marple, prove that he was innocent.

Gabaldon, Diana
  • Besieged *****
Fiction. Novella in the Lord John series. Lord John is asked by his father-in-law to travel to Cuba and bring back his mother, his cousin, and her children to Jamaica, but he gets involved in a slave revolt and the British and Spanish War in the meantime.

  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes *****
Fiction.  Sixth in the Outlander series.  The Revolutionary War is coming, but Jamie has to first find a way to switch to the rebels’ side and turn his back on Britain.  Claire is kidnapped, not once, but twice, and Jamie is accused of getting a young girl pregnant, after which Claire is accused of murdering her.  Trouble is coming to River Run, and people are disappearing all over the place.

  • The Brotherhood of the Blade *****
Fiction. Third in the Lord John Grey series.  Lord John and Hal meet their new-to-be stepfather and stepbrother, General Stanley and Percival.  Percy and John are attracted to each other and begin a relationship, but they know that with Percy joining Hal’s regiment, they must be very careful not to be found out. John and Hal’s mother, Benedicta, is determined to find her former husband’s murderer but is afraid to let her sons know that their father didn’t commit suicide, in fear that they will go after the killer and be killed in turn, but Lord John begins to put the clues together.

  • The Custom of the Army ****
Fiction.  Second in the Lord John Grey series.  Lord John is sent to Canada to defend a friend during a court martial but is caught up in the battle for Quebec.

  • Dragonfly in Amber *****
Fiction.  Second in the Outlander series.  Claire and Jamie head to France to stop Charles from obtaining support for the rebellion, but they fail.  Their daughter, Faith, is stillborn, and Claire languishes in fever, while Jamie is imprisoned in the Bastille waiting for his hanging.  The rebellion goes forward, and Jamie sends Claire back through the stones carrying their second child.

  • Drums of Autumn *****
Fiction.  Fourth in the Outlander series.  Jamie and Claire have settled at Fraser’s Ridge and are making it their home.  Bree and Roger find a newspaper clipping telling of her parents’ death in a fire at the Ridge some time in the future.  Without telling Roger, Bree decides to follow her mother into the past to warn them about the fire.  Once Roger learns of this, he too is determined to follow Bree through the stones.

  • An Echo in the Bone *****
Fiction.  The seventh in the Outlander series.  The Revolutionary War has begun, and Jamie is serving as Colonel in the Continental Army.  Claire travels with him, putting her doctor’s skills to work.  Brianna, Roger, and their children return to Scotland in 1980 and buy Lallybroch from the bank and set up their home. But danger lurks when Brianna’s co-worker takes too close an interest in the narrative Roger is writing about time travel, and the man kidnaps Jemmy to force Brianna to tell him where the gold is located.

  • The Exile ****
Fiction.  Graphic novel of the Outlander book.

  • The Fiery Cross *****
Fiction.  Fifth in the Outlander series.  Claire is busy doctoring, and Jamie is busy with the administration of Fraser’s Ridge and the people who have settled there.  They learn that Stephen Bonnet is still alive, and Jamie sets up a trap to meet with him.

  • A Fugitive Green *****
Fiction. Novella in the Lord John series. This is the story of Minnie, a purveyor of books and information, who set out to steal love letters from Hal, Lord John’s brother, but in fact fell in love with him herself.

  • A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows *****
Fiction.  Novella in the Outlander series.  Roger’s father, Jerry, is an RAF pilot who goes on assignment to take photographs of the Polish concentration camps. But during his training session, his plane goes down next to a circle of standing stones, and he unwittingly walks through them back in time.

  • Lord John and the Haunted Soldier ***
Fiction.  Novella in the Lord John series.  Lord John has recovered from his brush with death at the hand of an exploding cannon in Prussia, but now the military questions his part in the explosion. In trying to clear his name, he finds that the metal alloy used in construction of the cannons was faulty and sets about to find those responsible.

  • Lord John and the Hellfire Club ****
Fiction. Novella in the Lord John series.  A man Lord John has just met has been murdered, and Lord John receives an invitation to attend a house party at Lord Dashwood’s residence, a place of mystery and intrigue.

  • Lord John and the Succubus ****
Fiction.  Novella in the Lord John series.  Lord John is on assignment in Prussia, when rumors of a succubus abound upon the death of a soldier.  When a second soldier is found dead, the people of the town are terrified a demon is in their midst, but Lord John is determined to prove the killer is human.

  • A Plague of Zombies *****
Fiction.  Fifth in the Lord John series.  Lord John is in Jamaica trying to quell a slave rebellion, but he finds that the two slaves accused of theft weren’t actually the culprits.  When the governor is killed by zombies, John heads into the maroons’ territory to speak with the headman and see if they can resolve the issues.

  • The Private Matter ***
Fiction.  First in the Lord John series.  Lord John chases a traitor and a murderer through London’s bawdy houses and elegant upperclass homes, but it isn’t until he is kidnapped on a ship bound for India that he finds the answers to the puzzles.

  • The Space Between *****
Fiction.  7.5 in the Outlander series.  Michael Murray accompanies Laoghaire’s daughter, Joan, to her convent in Paris, but along the way she attracts the attention of the Comte de St-Germain, who believes her to be the daughter of Claire Fraser.  He kidnaps her and takes her to the chalk mines under the cemetery, where Maitre Raymond informs him that Joan is not of his blood, but the Comte is.

  • Virgins *****
Fiction.  Prequel to the Outlander series.  Jamie has been released from prison after having been flogged over 100 times. But his father, Brian, believing Jamie was killed, dies of an apoplexy.  Jamie flees to France to become a mercenary with his best friend, Ian, and they accept a job guarding a young Jewess and a sacred Torah on their way to Paris. After a night at an inn, they wake to find the woman and her maid gone, along with the Torah and track them down to a manor house where they find the woman about to be married to the owner.

  • Voyager *****
Fiction.  Third in the Outlander series.  While Claire is busy raising Brianna and getting her medical degree, Jamie is fighting at Culloden.  He’s terribly injured but is returned to Lallybroch by Lord John Grey’s older brother due to the debt Jamie is owed by their family for saving LJG’s life.  Jamie spends the next seven years hiding from the British in a cave near Lallybroch, but when he can’t take it anymore, he surrenders and is sent to Ardsmuir prison.

  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood *****
Fiction.  Eighth in the Outlander series.  Brianna and Roger and their two kids flee Lallybroch 1980, when Rod Cameron kidnaps Jem in order to find the Spaniard’s Gold. After getting Jem back, they go back through the stones to Fraser’s Ridge. Lord John and his brother, Hal, are searching for Hal’s son, Ben, who has been reported dead.  Dorothea and Dr. Hunter are still with Washington’s Army patching up the wounded. Ian has married Rachel, who has just given him a son. Marsali and Fergus lost their son Henri-Christian when there was a fire at the print shop.  They resettled in Savannah. William has gone off on his own after losing Jane, the young prostitute he had taken under his wing. He has resigned his commission.  Jamie has also resigned and has returned to Fraser’s Ridge to build a new house with Claire. Fanny, Jane’s sister is living with them now, as is Germaine, Fergus and Marsali’s oldest, as he is of age to be conscripted. Ian has lost Rollo to old age, but he and Rachel are making their new home on the Ridge.

Galenorn, Yasmine
  • Autumn Thorns ****
Fiction.  First in the Whisper Hollow urban fantasy series.  Kerris returns to Whisper Hollow upon the death of her grandmother, Lila, who was the spirit shaman.  Kerris is ready  to take her place, but she faces dangers from all sides.

  • Demon’s Delight *****
Fiction.  Maddy has been receiving messages from a mysterious person who is declaring his love for her, but when he is revealed as being her former love, Tom, she is finally able to lay her feelings about him to rest.

  • Shadow Silence *****
Fiction.  Third in the Whisper Hollow urban fantasy series.  A necromancer serial killer has come to town and has been killing teenagers.  Kerris has to come up with a plan to get rid of him and turns to Veronica who furnishes her with an Unliving general of Veronica’s army.

Kelsey, Anita
  • Claws: Confessions of a Professional Cat Groomer *****

Non-fiction.  Short stories of a groomer’s experiences with various moggies, along with many cat tips and website URLs dealing with cats.