Month: February 2022

Recent Reads: Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles Of St Mary’s book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles Of St Mary’s book 1) is the first book in the series, and I’ve been really enjoying it!  It’s about a group of people who investigate major historical events in a contemporary time – just don’t call it time travel!

Madeline Maxwell joins St Mary’s, and the fun begins from there!

This jump from 11th century London, World War I, Cretaceous period and the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria!  You get to find out just how much chaos historians really do bring about!

I thought this was a really good start to a series, with lots of characters, historical settings that felt real, and a storyline I enjoyed!

Just One Damned Thing After Another was published on 1st June 2013 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Jodi Taylor on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and her website.

Recent Reads: In Like Flynn by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy book 4)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Molly’s latest job is from Daniel, who she is trying to stay away from until he gets rid of his fiancée.  The job is outside of New York, which is good as there is a typhoid epidemic in the city at the moment.  Daniel wants Molly to try to uncover the Sorenson Sisters, a spiritualist pair, and show them for frauds.

They are staying at Senator Barney Flynn’s and so Daniel wants Molly to join the household as a cousin.  Senator Flynn and his wife. Theresa, lost their son 5 years ago as he was kidnapped and not returned.  Theresa is desperate to make contact with her son.

An unsolved kidnapping in addition to uncovering fraudsters is all up Molly’s street!

We haven’t dealt very much with the upper classes in these books, other than occasional visits, and so this was an interesting change of pace!

In Like Flynn was published on 29th November 2005, and is available from Amazon and  Waterstones.

You can follow Rhys Bowen on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

You can read my review of books in this series: 

Murphy’s Choice (book 1)

Death of Riley (book 2)

For The Love Of Mike (book 3)

Recent Reads: Midwinter Mysteries

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟

Midwinter Mysteries by eleven authors is a selection of short stories, each involving a mystery of some kind.

Some were good, some weren’t as good, but it was an interesting collection to find new mystery authors and series.

Midwinter Mysteries was published on 31st October 2019 and is available from Amazon and Waterstones.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Sapere Books.

Recent Reads: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott is set in 1956, when Boris Pasternak is writing Doctor Zhivago, and there’s controversy surrounding it.  Soviet Russia could ban it, but the USA is interested in getting it’s hands on it.

We meet two women – Sally, an experienced agent for the CIA, and Irina, a new hire for the typing section, and how they are involved in this book.

There are spies, international travel, horrible tactics by those in power, and love.  I enjoyed the story, and was interested in the setting and the events!

The Secrets We Kept was published on 5th September 2019, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Lara Prescott on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House.

Recent Reads: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

Posted on by Pam

My review:

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier is set in 1932 in Winchester.  Violet lost a brother and her fiancé in the Great War (World War I), and like so many women at the time, is single due to the huge amount of young men who died in the war.

She moves to Winchester, escaping her mother’s home, and joins a group of women who embroider the cushions and kneelers in the cathedral.

Violet finding her feet, the group of women and World War II on the horizon is all part of this story, which I really enjoyed.  The history of Winchester is part of the story, and was very interesting.

A Single Thread was published on 5th September 2019 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Tracy Chevalier on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins.