Review: An Act of Villainy (An Amory Ames Mystery #5) by Ashley Weaver

 

Amory and Milo Ames run into an old friend on a night out who invites them to come to the dress rehearsal for a new play he has written and produced called The Price of Victory.

Starring rising talents Christopher Landon and Flora Bell, Gerard Holloway is hoping for a great success.  He asks to see Milo at his club for a drink the next day. There he divulges that his star and mistress Flora Bell has been getting threatening letters.

There are a number of cast members who have some level of jealousy towards Bell, both for her success and for her relationship with Holloway.  Bell agrees to let Milo and Amory, who have solved a number of mysteries in the past, try to discover who wishes her harm. No police, though, she's adamant.

Awkwardly, Amory is friends with Holloway's wife, and has had some experience herself with a wandering husband.  As she and Milo attempt to investigate, old memories come between them, and Amory doesn't share quite as much as she should about her half of the investigation.

Opening night comes, the play is a rousing success, and Amory has to admit Flora has a rare talent. There's a gala afterward for charity, and then Flora is found, in the theater, dead.  

Despite the tensions from past problems in their relationship, I thought Amory and Milo worked well together as a crime solving team. Both are smart and observant, and wise about people and their behavior.

There's a lot of light witty banter among all characters, and the glamour of the stage.

This is our April book group book, or you know I never would have started in the middle of the series.  Definitely likeable characters, and a pleasant step into the lives of the wealthy in 1930s London.

https://www.ashley-weaver.com/

Review: The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time #3) by Robert Jordan

 

Rumors of the Dragon Reborn's battle at Falme are everywhere. Young men who vaguely look like Rand are being captured or killed.

Meanwhile, Rand, Moraine, Lan and Perrin wait out the chaos in a hidden canyon.  One night Trollocs attack, and Rand is unable to help with the fight at all. Disgusted, he leaves, alone, determined to make his way to Tear and the Heart of Stone. There his destiny will be fulfilled, if he really is the Dragon. Somehow he still isn't sure.

 Perrin struggles to deal with his affinity with the wolves.  Part of him wants to forget his humanity and run with them, part of him fears and loathes losing himself.  He also gains a follower of sorts.

Mat, cured by the Aes Sedai of the poisonous effects of the dagger he's carried too long, is desperate to leave Tar Valon and take to the road.

Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne continue to develop their powers, training now as Accepted.  

Within the Tower, though, the foundations of all the Aes Sedai stand for are threatened by the Black Ajah who have risen among them.  Though thirteen left the Tower, they stole artifacts and murdered some of their sisters. 

Soon everyone seems to be heading downriver towards Tear.  Another great adventure in this series.

Review Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

 

This is our Mystery Book Group selection for March.  A "transformative spa experience" awaits those who visit Tranquillum House, one of Australia's most exclusive resorts.  

Run by a woman who was transformed herself by a near death experience, Masha Dmitrichenko wants her guests to be truly changed by their time at Tranquillum.

The guests for this session are a former sports star, a family held together by a son's suicide, a romance writer dealing with bad reviews and hot flashes, a lottery winning couple, a divorcee, and a lawyer.  They're all at a place in their lives where getting away someplace for ten days and putting themselves in the hands of helpful strangers seems like an almost life saving opportunity.

There are alternating chapters for the characters in which we find out more about them, but more interestingly, how they see the others.  One character sees a housemate as a looney. She's certain he's a serial killer.  Another is stunningly handsome and he can't possibly have any problems, but he's at a crossroads.  A family lies to each other about the son and brother they lost. A young couple suddenly have all the money in the world, but not each other. A man has no connections except for the dog he's lost. A woman is glad to have others take care of everything for her, taking a break from her broken marriage.

The suspense builds slowly, almost unnoticeabley.  How weird to be made to drink every drop of required smoothies.  Why are there daily blood tests?  Why is the yoga studio in an underground windowless room?  Everyone's suitcases were searched for "contraband" food and drink and electronics.  It seems harsh to spend the first five days in "noble silence", having no opportunity to get to know staff or fellow guests.  Counseling sessions are unnecessarily unkind.

Everyone is taken by Masha, who seems to be everything they want to be.  There's an impulse to try to please her, but nothing they do is enough.

What starts as a feel good leisure spa experience quickly becomes something else.  It's impossible to leave, no one has ever left before the ten days are up.  This group is an experiment for Masha.  An experiment that goes very wrong.

The characters were very well drawn, I felt as I knew and cared about everyone by the end.

https://lianemoriarty.com.au/

Review: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

Sometimes when you really like a book, it's hard to write about it.  That's the case here, or I would have had this written this morning.

I bought The Thursday Murder Club when it came out, based on reviews.  I took a peek at it, but it wasn't what I was in the mood for at the time.  I also had read reviews, and somehow thought it might be a cutesy look at funny old people who totter around talking about crimes and mysteries.  Somehow the thought of it being vaguely like the movie Cocoon entered my mind. I thought Cocoon was a depressing movie.

The Thursday Murder Club consists of four individuals who happen to be in their seventies and eighties.  They live in a retirement village in the English countryside with lovely views, plenty to do, and the wine flows freely.

They meet Thursdays and go over the case files of a former member, trying to solve some of the unsolved cases.  Joyce was a nurse for forty years. Ron was a bit of a rowdy labor organizer.  Ibrahim was a psychiatrist. Elizabeth appears to have been a government operative, likely working for MI5.

When murder comes to the community they live in, they perk right up and prepare to dig in and find out who the murderer is.  The expertise and friends and acquaintances of this group is a force to be reckoned with.  Kindly, they take two local police detectives under their wing.

The murders begin when the developer of their community decides to expand.  He owns the land upon which a cemetery for the nuns who lived where Cooper's Chase now stands are buried.  He plans to remove all of the bodies (carefully, he says publicly) and create a new community there.  This is a case of literally knowing where the bodies are buried, as all sorts of things from the past, not just nuns, are in that graveyard.

The daily lives and concerns of these folks and others in the community are just tossed in.   However, if you are getting up there yourself, or know someone who is, the story can hit hard.  Losing someone slowly to dementia. Secrets that come out when time runs out. People who are lonely wondering how they ended up this way. That awful time when someone you love isn't communicative any longer and you talk to them and don't know if they hear or understand you at all, but you try because it keeps them with you somehow.

The backstory of one of the suspects just made me cry. Maybe all of the other stuff softened me up.

Review: The Great Hunt: Wheel of Time #2 by Robert Jordan

 

In this second volume of the fourteen volume series, the forces of The Dark One begin to move more openly in the world.  As many become convinced that the Last Battle nears, The Great Hunt is called to find the Horn of Valere.

This horn can be wielded by anyone, whether they are on the side of the light or dark.  When the horn is used, the dead will answer it's call.

Stolen by the Darkfriend Pad Fain from Fal Dara, Rand and a band of soldiers from Fal Dara pursue him across the world.

Egwene and Nynaeve begin their training in Tar Valon.  Egwene as a novice and Nynaeve as one of the Accepted.   It's interesting that the Aes Sedai are willing to work with Nynaeve at such a high training level right away, particularly when she seems most able to channel her powers when she's angry.

Travel is anything but ordinary, given the distances.  In addition to the Waygates, and the perilous travel through those dark ways, there are Portal Stones, rune covered stones and portions of stones which can transport a traveler to a mirror world.  

The first time one is used it's by accident, and the world they've entered is a strange, almost empty place.  Traveling there allows the group to journey a hundred miles in a short time once they find a way back home.  In another instance of using the stone, all of the travelers see other lives they might have lived.

As with the first book, the Great Hunt is packed with adventure, romance, and betrayal.  You feel as if you're right there along with our heroes and heroines, so well realized is the world.  An epic battle at the end of the book could easily have been the series end in any other story.  Luckily far more adventure awaits.

Review: Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg (A Marion Lane Mystery #2)

 

 It's 1959 and the associates at Miss Brickett's Investigations and Inquiries prepare to welcome three new recruits to the Agency.

Marion Lane, second year apprentice detective, receives an odd envelope slipped under the door of  her room. She finds in it that she has a new partner or "informant" and that "One of the new recruits is not to be trusted".

The timing couldn't be worse. There's a deep fog enveloping London, leading to a crime wave on the streets above (Miss Brickett's is deep underground).

A particularly heinous crime committed in Harrogate has Scotland Yard, the public, and the detectives at Miss Brickett's on high alert.  A young man was beaten, branded with an iron in the shape of a rose, and shot in the temple before being tossed in a dumpster.

The public has dubbed the killer "The Florist."  Tips and sightings of the Florist abound, as panic sets in.

The three new apprentices are Proctor, Longmore and Quinn.  Marion's assigned along with another agent to give them a tour and get settled in.  Naturally, she suspects them all, since one of them may be guilty of something.

Not only do the three not quite fit in, they soon have joined in with a long time detective to form  the Employee Rights and Protection Society.  Rumor of a body tossed into the Thames last year is what the group focuses on first, then insidiously they make accusations of missing gadgetry, irregularities in handling staff problems in the past, and there's a possibility that there are holding cells even deeper underground where people have disappeared.

As Marion and an American detective try to solve the Harrogate murder, the agency seems to be rotting from the inside.

The Agency is Marion's home and family.  There's nothing she won't do to try to solve the murder of the Deadly Rose, and to see if it is tied to the arrival of one of the recruits, who may be a murderer.

A wonderful follow up to last year's Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder, Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose takes us deeper into the workings of the 1950's secret detective agency, with it's array of useful spy gadgets, it's dedicated agents, and the labyrinth that is home to some of Britain's finest minds.

Here's what I thought of the first in the series:

https://merlynperilous.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/marion-lane-and-the-midnight-murder-by-t-a-willberg/

 

https://tawillberg.com/

Review: Trixie Belden #1: The Secret of the Mansion

 

It's going to be a long boring summer for Trixie.  Her brothers are away at camp as counselors, and she's stuck at home doing chores and babysitting her little brother Bobby.

She doesn't see her school friends in the summer time and it's lonely at Crabapple Farm.  As she's complaining to her mother about these things, she spots a moving van in the driveway of the long empty mansion across the street. 

Off she goes, Bobby in tow, to meet the new owners. There's no shyness in Trixie, just curiosity and an inborn friendliness. 

To her surprise, there's a girl her age moving in. Honey Wheeler seems way too cautious, timid and serious to Trixie.

Before you know it though, Trixie is on one of Honey's family horses, a dream of hers, and they're off exploring.  The neighbor who lives in a rundown mansion next to Honey's place is in the hospital and the house is empty right now, Trixie knows, so over they go to investigate the house.  Not content with peeking in the windows, Trixie wants to go inside "to make sure everything is locked up".

She's not usually a breaking and entering person, but Honey insists she saw a face in the window earlier in the day. This makes it Trixie's "duty" as a good neighbor to make sure the house is secure.

Inside, it's more than run down.  The house is piled in every room with trash and old papers.  The upstairs part of the house has been blocked off by the owner.

Once she's in, Trixie has to look around and tells Honey it's rumored the old man who lives here has a fortune hidden in the house. They should look for it while they're here!

Trixie has no fear.  She heads right for trouble and is fiercely loyal.  She also speaks her mind, saying things she shouldn't before she can stop herself.  

Having Honey as a friend, particularly during this boring summer is a dream. She gets to learn horseback riding, and canoeing.  Her new friend knows nothing of the sort of life Trixie leads, but she quickly joins Trixie in her chores, including working in the garden and doing dishes.

The two are a natural team, finding out the secrets of the tumbledown old house, and helping a new friend escape a terrible life.

I enjoyed it as much as I did when I first read it long ago. When I finished, I reached for the next book,  The Red Trailer Mystery to see what happened next.

Review: Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie

Am I imagining things, or do the plots of the Hercule Poirot novels become more twisty as time goes on? Who could possibly guess whodunnit with all of the characters and motivations, and means?

 

In Death On The Nile, a large cast of characters are on holiday taking a cruise up the Nile.  

The stars of the trip are a newly married couple named Linnet and Simon Doyle.  She's got everything, beauty, wealth, business acumen, charm.  He's a puppy dog of a man who doesn't seem to have much more than his looks and boyish ways to recommend him.

Unfortunately for the couple, they're being stalked by Simon's old girlfriend, who was also Linnet's best friend.  Her disappointment in losing Simon has left her a bit unhinged with jealousy.

Poirot and his old friend Colonel Race observe the passengers, and try to make out who on the ship is actually a threat to Linnet, who confides to Poirot that there are many who hate her.  Colonel Race is also onboard to find a killer who has been ruthless in his underworld dealings.

The pleasure cruise takes a dark turn as there are murders, thefts and other dark crimes uncovered.

Once again Poirot, the romantic, cannot help but be moved by young love. Will this keep him from exposing the killer?

Soon to be a major motion picture!

Review: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

 

 I've decided to read more Classics in 2022, and I picked Steinbeck's Travels With Charley as my first.  

Over the years as I've looked for books I might like about traveling, or books by Steinbeck I might find approachable (having been ruined in high school by The Pearl and The Red Pony) this book has come up.  

Travels with Charley follows John Steinbeck's adventures traveling cross country with his large Poodle Charley. Steinbeck imbues Charley with a great deal of character and wisdom.  The dog graces the landscape with his musings, leaving notes for future canine travelers.  Despite his gentle nature, Charley is an excellent watchdog.

Steinbeck asked that a camper be custom built for his trip.  He wanted the comforts of a ships cabin.  While I was reading the book, I had a picture of the Rocinante being relatively small inside, so I had trouble at one point picturing nine people aboard, conversing and having drinks.

As it turns out, the camper was huge, and the truck itself is very large as well.

I was astounded at the beginning of the story at the amount of clothing and food and tools and other supplies Steinbeck packed.  If you camp you try to keep the weight down, but he had no such thoughts, so it seemed.  Then, astonishingly, when he was first on the road he stopped someplace and seemed to pick up every kind of booze available.  To be sure, as he traveled, that alcohol was well parceled out, leading to many pleasant conversations in unlikely places.

Steinbeck's writing style here is conversational, as if you're sitting right across from him listening to his tale.

There's a dreamy style to some of the description:

"The customers were folded over their coffee cups like ferns".

He speaks of the urge to just go, and  be moving somewhere, anywhere along the road.  Many many times he saw the envy people had of him, of their own wish to be able to just climb in and take a road somewhere.

He prefers to travel the side roads and old highways, which are filled with towns and shops and interesting people.

He worries about "superhighways"  "When we get these thruways across the whole country, as we will and must, it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing."

There's the beauty of road trips, right, taking all the old roads where you can, and seeing how people live and work.  As soon as you take a section of freeway, your mind just shuts down, there's nothing to see at all.  You may get there faster, but it's as if you haven't been anywhere.

There's a map of his route along the north of the country, and back through the southern half. 

Highly recommended for a winter's read, or anytime the open road calls you.

Librariandoa's Books Read In 2021

 

Here's my grand list of books read in 2021.  Not all, perhaps not most, were published in 2021.  

I would find reviews of a new book, or even ads for a book by an author, get the first one, and in many cases I'd start reading all of the series.  In the case of long series, those with ten or more books, I may have bought them all, but I like variety in my reading so I sprinkle them in amongst other books. 

In 2021 for the first time, I wrote a review of everything I read, so I have an actual record.  With all of the notebooks I keep, you'd think I could do a well kept reading notebook.  It doesn't work for me.

Reviews for January through July of 2021 are on my MerlynPerilous blog (merged with this "Classic DOA blog in August of last year).   https://merlynperilous.wordpress.com/ 

I may be wary of 2022 in some ways (har har, I thought 2021 would be so lovely), but with my backlog of great books to read and new series to try, and a promising start of new books to be published in 2022, I expect reading wise that 2022 will be an excellent year.

2021 Reads: 

1. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1)

2. All Systems Red by Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries #1

3. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

4. The House on Vesper Sands by Padraic O’Donnell

5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

6. Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T. A. Willberg

7. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

8. The Desolations of Devil’s Acre by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #6)

9. Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler  (Bryant and May Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries #1)

10. A Court of Thorns and Roses By Sarah J Maas (Court of Thorns and Roses #1)

11. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone #2)

12. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone #3)

13. A Test of Wills: The First Inspector Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd

14. A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourne (Veronica Speedwell Mysteries #2)

15. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

16. Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

17. Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

18. The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty  (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

19. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

20. Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

21. The Water Room by Christopher Fowler (Peculiar Crimes Unit #2)

22. Dead Land Sarah Paretsky

23. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

24. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (Truly Devious #1)

25. The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

26. Greenglass House by Kate Milford

27. The Big Four by Agatha Christie

28. The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Greystone Secrets #1)

29. The Deceivers by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Greystone Secrets #2)

30. Kingdom of Copper by S A Chakraborty (Daevabad Trilogy #2)

31. The Empire of Gold by S A Chakraborty (Daevabad Trilogy #3)

32. The Messengers by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Greystone Secrets #3)

33. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

34. Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries #1)

35. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard  (The Witchlands #1)

36. Windwitch by Susan Dennard  (The Witchlands #2)

37. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

38. Mirror’s Edge by Scott Westerfeld (Imposters #3)

39. How to Get Away With Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries #2)

40. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

41. Lord Edgeware Dies by Agatha Christie

42. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson (Truly Devious #3)

43. Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard (The Witchlands #3)

44. The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson  (Truly Devious #2)

45. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen Series #1)

46. Witchshadow by Susan Dennard (The Witchlands #4)

47. The Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford

48. The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson (Truly Devious #4)

49.Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

50. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Inheritance Games #1)

51. Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer

52. The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Inheritance Games #2)

53. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

54. The Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard  (Red Queen Series #2)

55. Credible Threat by J A Jance

56. Road of Bones by James R Benn

57. Child of Light by Terry Brooks

58. Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

59. Uneasy Lies the Crown by Tasha Alexander

60. Cold Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries #3)

61. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

62. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (Scholomance #2)

63. The Kings Cage by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen #3)

64. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

65. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time #1)

66. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

Book Notes January 4, 2021

 Record cold temperatures can't faze you when you have a cozy chair, a beagle, cocoa, and a perilously wonderful pile of good books to read.

 

New and intriguing science fiction and fantasy from DAW.

More new books, mysteries and suspense from CWA authors.

From CrimeReads, ten new books out this week:

https://crimereads.com/10-new-books-coming-out-this-week-january-3-2022/

 

My potential picks:

Luckenbooth Jenni Fagen

Murder on B Deck Vincent Starrett

The Maid Nita Prose (I'm surprised I don't have this on order yet.  I guess I'm waiting for reviews.)

The Narrow Door Joanne Harris

 

Stop You're Killing Me has a good list of the best Mystery Debut Novels from 2021.  It's impressive how many of these turned up on best of lists everywhere for the year.

www.stopyourekillingme.com/Reviews_Debut_2021.html

 

The Goodreads Choice Awards 2021

 The Choice Awards were announced, and sadly, only four of my own choices made it all the way to the end:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Hill We Climb Amanda Gorman

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan

I’ll have to see what I can do to support my favorite authors next year to get them further along.  Looking back at previous year’s winners, though, I think my reading tastes don’t match the Goodreads crowd much. Hmmm. Congratulations to all of the winners in any case!

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

 

It's E'ls graduating year, and things aren't off to a good start.  She shares homeroom with a group of freshman. Worse yet, as the school year unwinds, she begins to feel protective of them.  Nobody needs that.

The deadly school kills hundreds of kids a year.  Helping someone else could mean you die.

El has an alliance with several people she is astonished to call friends. There's no room for anyone else in the mad, desperate dash towards graduating and making it out of the school alive.

Somehow, once these kids have gotten in under her careful guard, El begins to ponder if she can save everyone.  All of the graduating class.  All of the kids in the school.

Once the idea takes hold of her, she balances survival, schoolwork and a master plan that will require every student to help get themselves, their allies, their rivals and their enemies out the front door.

This second novel of the Scholomance trilogy manages to be as terrifying as ever, but it's also emotional. The kids all have a desperate and foolish task ahead.

If they do make it out, how will they be received in their homes and communities?  What effect on their whole world if this essential part of society does not function to save their children from certain death on the outside?  

For once, the Scholomance itself has a say in things. 

I can't wait for book three.

https://www.naominovik.com/

My Top 6 Fantasy Novels Read in 2021

 I tried for a top five, but these first books in series were exceptional. In many cases I read the whole series or trilogy in quick succession, a couple of others such as the Greenglass novels, I’m savoring.  I’m lucky to have found so many new authors this year.  Highly recommended!

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

City of Brass by SA Chakraborty

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Child of Light by Terry Brooks

My 10 Favorite Mysteries of 2021

 I meant to do a top five list.  I went through my Merlyn Blog and DOA from August to now and got the names of all the books I read this year.  This is the first time I have ever managed to have a full list of what I've read.

I've read 57 books total so far, which is huge for me.  If you look at the Merlyn Blog in previous years, I managed to read two, three books tops a month.  2019, 2020 and 2021 have been revelations of great authors new and ones I missed.  

I have a huge TBR bookcase overflowing with even more great books.  I narrowed my list to ten books by only taking the first in a series if I read more than one book in a series, which I certainly did.

In no order at all, these were my very favorites of 2021:

My Favorite Books of 2021

 

Welcome to Themes and Memes Thursday.  I've an actual theme today! On Thursdays in November I'll be doing lists of my Five Favorite Books Read This Year in several categories Poirot, Fantasy, Mystery and Science Fiction.

Look for my favorite Mysteries from 2021 later today.

Glass Sword: Red Queen #2 by Victoria Aveyard

 

 Having just barely escaped from the Arena, Mare, her brother, Prince Cal and the remaining members of the Scarlet Guard flee the new king.

It wasn't enough to force Cal to behead his own father, Maven wants death and more from his brother and "the little lightning girl".

Luckily The Scarlet Guard has its own secret base.  Filled with soldiers and refugees, it's also a cache of stolen weaponry, equipment and aircraft.

While Mare wants to find the "newbloods" from the secret list she has, those with Red and Silver Blood and stronger than both, the local leader of the Scarlet Guard doesn't trust any of these people. Including Mare and her brother Shade.  

He'd as soon lock them up or use them as bargaining chips to make gains in the rebellion against the Silvers.

Another escape, with Mare and a ragtag contingent of the Scarlet Guard on the road to find the newbloods before king Maven and his mother can kill them or twist them into something awful.

Can they rescue the talented newbloods in time and build their own small, powerful army?  Who really leads them? Should it be Mare? Does she want to lead?

Can they outrun an insane king and his powerful, mind controlling mother?

Non-stop action, divided loyalties, the constant fear of capture or betrayal keeps the story moving.  Great characters keep the reader hoping there can be a future without war.

My Review of Red Queen, first in the series  https://merlynperilous.wordpress.com/2021/08/24/red-queen-by-victoria-aveyard/

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

 

 Hercule Poirot appears very little in this novel, and that is mostly near the end of the story.  In spite of this, Three Act Tragedy is a highly entertaining mystery.

Thirteen are gathered for dinner (plus one) at the home of famous actor Sir Charles Cartwright.  We learn all about the various attendees from an omniscient narrator and somewhat from the observations of Mr. Satterthwaite, a fellow who is a patron of the arts and who considers himself a keen observer of human nature.

Practically before the dinner party has a chance to  get started, one of the guests, a clergyman, suddenly seems to choke on his cocktail, and in moments he's dead.

A doctor on the scene, Bartholomew Strange, pronounces Stephen Babbington dead.  Babbington had a few health problems, so it is assumed one of those took the elderly man at this misopportune moment.

Charles Cartwright, however thinks something more happened, and he discusses this theory with his friends Satterthwaite and Strange.  He also mentions his theory to young Hermione "Egg" Lytton Gore, who has a bit of hero worship for the older Charles.

A few months later, there's another dinner party, with many of the same attendees, sans Poirot.  Another death immediately after a drink is taken.

Now the game is on, with Satterthwaite, Cartwright and Egg consulting and crisscrossing the countryside to try to find out who the murderer is, for they're all certain now there were two murders.

The first murder, of the innocent seeming clergyman must hold the key.  What could be the motive, and why was there no trace of poison in the glasses used by either victim?

I wondered at the point of view and the leaving Poirot out of the hunt for the killer for much of the story.  The would be detectives have a thrilling time out asking questions of witnesses.  Was this to give the reader a viewpoint wherein they knew what the detectives knew, and they could solve the murder right along side them? Poirot himself famously holds much information back.

I, for once, actually suspected the killer, but not their motive or method.  I was a bit proud of myself.

Three Act Tragedy was formerly published as Murder In Three Acts which is a better title, all in all, I think.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 

 Everyone likes to imagine inheriting millions out of nowhere.  

Avery Grambs, currently living out of her car while trying to finish high school, is that lucky person.  Called into the principal's office, she's sure it's about the unusually high score she got on a test that the teacher has set up as a way to foil his students and their aspirations.

Instead, waiting with the principal is an attractive young man in a suit who dismisses the principal as if he were a lackey.  

It seems that Avery has come into an inheritance from Tobias Hawthorne, Grayson Hawthorne's father.  The Hawthorne family has been looking for Avery for several weeks.  It seems Grayson's father's will can't be read without Avery being present.

At the reading of the will, family and staff are given token bequests, and the rest, billions of dollars, is given to Avery.  Awkward!

In order to keep this inheritance, Avery must live at Hawthorne Manor with the deposed family and staff for a year.

Luckily she can bring her half sister Libby to stay at the mansion.  

Avery's life is blown up. She has a tight security detail, a law office which handles everything for her, and potentially anything she wants.

She's a tough, smart, practical girl.  She'd like control of her life and her dreams of college.  Now a media celebrity, she can't go anywhere without being swarmed.

Everyone, particularly the Hawthorne family, wants to know how Avery "got to" Tobias Hawthorne and influenced him to leave her everything.  

She's never met him, and it's proved via a DNA test she's not related in any way.

It turns out Avery is more than an instant heiress.  She's the centerpiece of a game the four Hawthorne brothers have to solve.

Curiously, Avery was challenged by her mother her whole life with games and puzzles.  While her mother was alive, there was no puzzle presented that Avery didn't work to solve.  The four Hawthorne brothers were brought up the same way. 

Is Avery a better player than they are?  Can she survive a year without one or more of the Hawthorne's plotting her demise?

Avery's a great puzzle master, but she seems, as she recounts the tale, just like anyone would be who is tossed into such a situation.  Very down to earth and likeable.

The Hawthorne Legacy is the sequel, releasing Tuesday, September 7, 2021.  Let the games continue.