121. The Body at the Tower - Y.S. Lee

Genre: Period Mystery

Rating: Very Good

My last read for 2014.

This is the second book in the series The Agency.

Mary Quinn works for an all woman agency who hires out for detective and spy work in Victorian London.

Mary is a girl from the streets who was trained by the agency. She uses her street smarts to good effect.

In this outing, Mary is undercover as a boy hired as a gofer at a building site in London, trying to understand how one of the workers fell to his death from the bell tower where Big Ben is being installed.

Intriguing character development and likable main characters. London, and its poor are their own characters in the series.

North Carolina and Cape Hatteras

We are currently visiting Jim’s family in NC, about an hour and a half inland from the Cape.
History Note:
On 26 August, 1978 Jim and I got married at the Cape. Hatteras Light was on the beach near the point then, before they moved it to save it from beach erosion.
We wore shorts and tee shirts, and had to transport the lady reverend and the folks who’d come to see us tie the knot, in 4 wheel drives to reach the point.  We got married at Sundown.
I wouldn’t let Jim hold a surf rod during the ceremony though.  I know mean of me….
Our wedding supper was at KFC because it was the only restaurant open nearby.  We had to carry in the booze, because Dare County was dry.

120. When Gods Die–C.S. Harris

Genre: Period Mysteries

Rating: Very Good

Second in the Sebastian St. Cyr series of period mysteries.

It is 1811 and Prinny is, as usual, in Brighton. But he wasn’t prepared for the dead woman he found in his rooms.

Devlin is called in and asked to investigate.  Did the Regent kill her, or was it a set up?  Devlin is inclined to tell them all to go to Hell, but then he sees a necklace around the dead woman’s neck. The last time he’d seen that necklace was around his mother’s throat just before her sailboat sank and took her to the bottom of the channel.

Nicely complex characters, with a hero who can be single-mindedly bloodthirsty yet caring for those he loves. The miseries of the time were all too clearly painted. The murder and the mystery surrounding it was convoluted and complex enough to keep me from figuring out the fine points throughout.

I’ll be eager to get to the next in the series

119. The Alto Wore Tweed–Mark Schweizer

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Rating:  Good

I confess I missed a lot of humor in this book, since it is based on Episcopal church happenings. But I did enjoy what I understood and found the main character a hoot, literally, when he gets his owl.

The mystery was pretty convoluted and was hard to solve which is a plus especially for cozy mysteries.

If you get all the musical and religious humor you’ll enjoy it probably more than I did.

117. A Conspiracy of Violence–Susanna Gregory

Genre:  Historical Mystery

Rating: Very Good

A complexly woven mystery set in the aftermath of the Restoration. Tomas Chaloner was a spy for Therloe, the spymaster for the now dead and not missed Cromwell. Charles II is firmly in place but there is still much thoughts of revenge and suspicion regarding those who were seen as helping Cromwell and killing the King when he took power.

Chaloner is newly returned from Holland where he’d been spying on the Dutch, and is now penniless and masterless.  He becomes sucked into conspiracies, or at least perceived conspiracies and finds himself unable to trust anyone but his Dutch lover.

Then things get even more complicated.

Colorful and detailed settings, well developed characters and a mystery that keeps one guessing throughout most of the book.

117. The Laws of Murder–Charles Finch

Genre: Period Mystery

Rating:  Very Good

The 8th in the Charles Lenox series, finds Charles in very different circumstances than previously. He’s grown, widened his views, and admits he is getting older.  And for some reason, he’s being attacked in the newspapers.

However, when a police detective he and Dallington know is found murdered, the two swing into actions to discover who would dare to kill a Scotland Yard detective, and just what the detective had learned that made that murder necessary.

A nice pleasant cozy sort of mystery, but with some realistic looks at London in the mid 1800s.

116. Burn Me Deadly- Alex Bledsoe

I was too old to keep having ephiphanies.

But the advantage to my plan was that, for the most part, all I had to do was wait. Since there was no way to get around this animal, it seemed an especially good plan.

Eddie LaCrosse is a sword-jockey, as he calls himself. He's a bit past his prime, has an, ahem, colorful background, and is therefore smart- most of the time- and has no illusions.

So when a girl who'd obviously been beaten and tortured runs into him on the road, he's a bit less than enthusiastic to help her. But, well, what the hell, he doesn't have anything else on at the moment.

Well, that's when things start going pear-shaped.

Second in the series, Burn me Deadly is a fun read, with a reluctant hero, some intriguing pals, and a chase that keeps you guessing throughout.

I look forward to reading more of Eddie, Liz and Little Blackie.

115. Devil’s Peak–Deon Meyer

First of a series taking place in South Africa. A struggling alcoholic detective is on the trail of a serial killer who targets child abusers. Bad enough his life is a mess, and he’s fighting off the draw of the booze, but then suddenly the search gets personal.

Quite good for a first in series. I’ll try to continue this one.

114. The Spirit Lens – Carol Berg

Portier de Savin-Duplais is a failed magician. He’s archivist at the Collegia Magica. He’s settled, and expects nothing more. But one day his distant cousin, Phillipe, the King of Sabria, requires his presence. With that visit, Portier is drawn into an investigation of a plot to kill the king. And, Portier meets a very different, very frightening mage, who while they investigate proves almost everything Portier believes about magic to be wrong.

Interesting and well drawn world. The characters are complex and the writing is very good.