A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd

 

First Line: December 1918. The war had ended, but not the suffering.

World War I is over, but-- as Nurse Bess Crawford says, "...when we no longer needed soldiers, we tossed them aside like broken chairs." Now she has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and a group of Welsh patients worries her. It's clear that they have nothing to go home to in a valley where the only employment is for the able-bodied down in the coal mines.

When their officer, Captain Williams, writes to tell Bess of their despair and of his own at trying to save his men, Bess requests leave and travels to Wales. She's too late. Most of the group is dead. Worried that Williams intends to kill himself, Bess follows him to an isolated peninsula where she's promptly deserted by her driver. Now Bess is stranded among strangers suspicious of outsiders. When she learns that the villagers are all hiding something, they do not allow her to leave, and-- what's even worse-- no one in England knows where she is. Bess must find the answers to all her questions without putting her only two allies at risk, but there is a murderer here who is driven to kill again and again...

My interest in nurses on the front lines during World War I began with the BBC's "Testament of Youth" and Lyn MacDonald's The Roses of No Man's Land. When I learned of Charles Todd's series featuring Bess Crawford, I had to get my hands on a copy. I've enjoyed the series ever since, but I have to say that with A Forgotten Place, this series has reached a whole new (and wonderful) level.

In reality, A Forgotten Place is a locked room mystery, if you can call an isolated peninsula a room. No one goes there. The police don't come there; the villagers take care of everything themselves. No one has transportation, so if anyone wants to leave, they have to walk miles and miles and miles over rough terrain. Getting letters in and out is left entirely to chance. The weather in December is atrocious, and the villagers are all suspicious, they're all hiding something, and they're Olympic gold medal winners at immediately thinking the worst of anybody or anything. It wasn't long at all before I wanted to run screaming away from the place, but I was trapped there along with Bess, and I simply couldn't leave until Bess could leave. The setting is superb and really set the tone for the entire book.

The writing team of Charles Todd always enlightens readers about a certain facet of life during World War I, and this time it's the plight of amputees. In many instances, it would have been kinder for them to have been killed in action. There were no jobs for them when they came home. Often their arrival meant even greater hardship for already poverty-stricken families. It's no wonder their suicide rate was high. 

The mystery in A Forgotten Place really kept me guessing, and I got to see a side of Bess Crawford's personality that has never really been shown before-- probably because she's never been in a situation like this one. She's always going to fight for anyone who's under her care, and she's always going to fight for the right, but this time, she's also got to fight for her own survival. These villagers are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Every time Bess was forceful with these people and their well-honed complicity of silence, I wanted to cheer aloud. And was I ever glad when Bess and I finally got out of the place.

I'm really looking forward to what Bess gets up to next!

 

A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd 

eISBN: 9780062678850

William Morrow © 2018

eBook, 384 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #10 Bess Crawford mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

                                          

First Line: "What have you done to her?"

1603. Queen Elizabeth I is dead. As the men in power decide to pass the throne to James VI of Scotland, one woman debates changing the course of history. The identities of two Tudor heirs have been covered up for decades, and with a foreign king about to take over, this may well be the time to let the truth out. But there are reasons why the Tudor children were put into hiding and exposing them would not only put their lives in danger, but the lives of many others as well.

2019. Dr. Perdita Rivers and her twin sister Piper are back in their ancestral home of Marquess House in Wales. The walls of their home contain many riddles that they need to solve. They've already uncovered earth-shattering secrets, but they are still missing one piece of the puzzle. And just when it seems they're ready to expose the centuries-old conspiracy, old enemies resurface to put their very lives at risk.

This is a trilogy that, although it has some minor flaws, I recommend to any reader who's ever had a fascination with Tudor and Stuart history. I know I have, and I've lost count of the books, both fiction and non-fiction, that I've read about this period. It seemed as though any man with any sort of high status was out to grab all the wealth and power that he could-- and he didn't care who he had to knock down to get it. There is a sort of glamor to this period, and it's also an extremely brutal era. This period was also graced with some formidable women, Elizabeth I and Bess of Hardwick, to name just two. How women of their power and intelligence had the fortitude to deal with the men of the day escapes me. I think I'd lose all patience and keep the royal executioners busy.

The Marquess House trilogy is just the sort of dual timeline story that I love. In this third book, Arbella Stuart takes the spotlight as she tries to outlast all those who are after her-- which includes her cousin James who makes his leisurely way down to London to be crowned King James I of England. Alexandra Walsh has shown a brilliant capability for finding little-known trails in history that lead to locked doors. Nothing is known about what happened behind those doors, so she weaves a story to fill in the blanks. Most of her work at her fictional loom has made me smile, but in this third book, the fate of one of the male characters was a bit of a stretch that my imagination really didn't want to make.

For large periods of time, nothing is mentioned about the groups of people who are out to get Perdita and Piper in the modern timeline. We're just told how superior the security is at Marquess House. It's almost as if Walsh were having so much fun with her histories that she forgot all about the modern-day bad guys. When she did remember them, the only thing she could do was to create some incredibly bone-headed lapses in that superior security. Ah well. A minor quibble.

One of the most powerful themes throughout this trilogy has always been women fighting for the right to their own voice, to their own power, and the author had me mentally cheering in solidarity more than once. If you think you may want to read Walsh's work, please read The Catherine Howard Conspiracy and The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy first or you may become confused. This trilogy is fun, and it's so good to see an author with a good knowledge of history go to work on it with her imagination to create something that might just have happened.

The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

eISBN: 9781913335847

Sapere Books © 2020

eBook, 398 pages

Thriller, #3 Marquess House Trilogy

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

Benighted by J. B. Priestley

First Line: Margaret was saying something, but he couldn't hear a word.

J. B. Priestley was an extremely popular author in the late 1920s and the 1930s, and when someone told me about Benighted, I had to read it. I love stories about old, scary houses, and this book inspired a 1930s film, "The Old Dark House," which gave birth to a whole genre of movies.

Benighted is the tale of people stranded by a horrendous storm and flooding in a remote corner of Wales. Their place of refuge is an ancient, dark, creepy old manor house inhabited by four of the strangest people you'd never hope to meet. Little do they realize that it will be a severe test of their mental and physical fortitude just to survive the night.

Priestley excelled in his depiction of the ancient house and its inhabitants. There is a decided scare factor when reading about them that I enjoyed. Where the book fell flat for me was in the amount of time it spent inside each of the stranded characters' heads. I can see what Priestley was trying to do: the house had such an effect on these people that their attitudes began to change about what they wanted from their lives, but it was just too much-- especially since I didn't particularly like any of them in the first place. By book's end, there's also a question I'd dearly love to have answered, a question that Priestley really didn't want readers to ask.

Benighted gave me a glimpse of Priestley's talent, but it failed to hit the bulls-eye.

Benighted by J. B. Priestley

ASIN: B00BR5TS0U

Valancourt Books © 2013

Originally published 1927.

eBook, 164 pages

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham

First Line: Jon Breakell has just completed his chef d'oeuvre, his masterpiece. The Mona Lisa of office art.

It's been over a year since Detective Sergeant Fiona Griffiths worked her last homicide. She keeps track. Finally, the call comes: a local archaeologist has been decapitated, a crime that seems to harken back to Dark Age Britain and King Arthur. Then armed burglars begin raiding remote country churches. Fiona thinks she has the answers to all the questions surrounding the murder and the thefts, but the end game has yet to be played. It's a crime so audacious that it will test even Fiona's uncanny abilities.

You'd be hard-pressed to come up with another crime solver as brilliantly unexpected as Fiona Griffiths. In many ways, her personality and abilities match the great Sherlock Holmes himself, so much so that her superior officers in the Cardiff police force soon learn that their major task is to learn when and how to "cry havoc and let slip" this dog of war-- because she is utterly ferocious on an investigation. She has the focus of a laser and simply does not know when to quit. One of the reasons why Harry Bingham's remarkable creation stays so dynamic is due to Cotard's Syndrome (a rare mental illness in which the affected person holds the delusional belief that they are already dead, they do not exist). Believe it or not, this gives her voice a freshness, an immediacy that's addictive.

In many of the mysteries I read, I may briefly mourn the dead person, but then it's time to move on and become part of the investigation. Not so in this series. Due to her unique outlook, they are never forgotten. Fiona brings the dead with her; they look over her shoulder to see if justice is being done. I find their presence very moving. 

In The Deepest Grave, the author has written another wonderful, twisty mystery about the market for objets d'art. The book even features a showdown in which Fiona brings along Conscience and Violence as her two sidekicks. A fabulous main character and a wonderful story-- two things that I have come to expect from Harry Bingham. I am so glad that I found this series!
 

The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9781409152798

Orion Books © 2017

Paperback, 464 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Fiona Griffiths mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Book Depository.


 

The Dead House by Harry Bingham

First Line: "Well?"

The corpse is in a remote location, with no marks of violence and looking very peaceful. But why is she there...why has no one reported her missing... and why is she wearing a thin white dress on a bitter October night? These are just a few of the questions that have Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths raring to take this case under her wing and solve it. She does like the unusual after all. And what could be more unusual than having a corpse without a crime and a second case that's a crime without a corpse? It's certainly worlds better than logging evidence and keeping all those spreadsheets neat and tidy for her superiors on the Cardiff police force. 

What Fiona doesn't know is that she's putting herself in line to be the next victim, but who are we kidding? Even if she did know, she wouldn't mind a bit. It's not like she hasn't been dead before....

I have been luxuriating in Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffiths series since the very first book, Talking to the Dead. Bingham's hallmark precision plotting and the most fascinating character in all of crime fiction are two of the major reasons why I am hooked on these books.

Here in The Dead House, Fiona is as brilliant as ever, and she's found a new detective inspector to impress/bewilder. It takes a very special DI to both recognize Fiona's incredible intuition and indefatigable desire to see the job through... and to know how to work with her to use those talents without forfeiting one's rank and job. Our Fi isn't the easiest person to deal with. 

If you are not a fan of caving, be forewarned: you're going to find yourself underground for extended periods of time. Since I do not "do" underground, I was feeling extremely jittery through these sections of the book (which means they are very well done). 

One of the things I love about Fiona and about Bingham's writing is that you never quite know what to expect (other than a fantastic read). One of my favorite parts of The Dead House was when Fiona finds a way to bring in her sister the interior decorator so she can help a grieving father. The police forces of the world may not have Life Reassembly and Home Decoration Teams... but they're a wonderful idea. Fiona is usually in such grim situations that it's nice to read a touching-- and funny-- scene like this.

Through the first four books in this series, I have awarded each one an A+/five stars. I knew that, sooner or later, that rating streak would have to end, and it does here. The Dead House is a "mere" A/four-and-a-half stars because there were two things that were just a bit over the top for me. One was the medieval aspect of the mystery's solution which I can't say anything more about. The other occurred when Fiona calls a friend to come and witness a potentially dangerous arrest. But four A+'s and one A in five books? This means you really need to get your hands on this series and read each book, preferably in order because you need to know why Fiona is so unique.

You can thank me later.
 

The Dead House by Harry Bingham

ASIN:B01GYJHBSY
Sheep Street Books © 2016
eBook, 500 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Fiona Griffiths mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Amazon. 

The Case of the Dotty Dowager by Cathy Ace

First Line: Henry Devereaux Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, was terribly worried about his mother.

The dowager duchess has to be losing her marbles. At least that's what her son, Henry Twyst the eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, believes. His mother insists that she saw a corpse lying on the dining room floor, but the only evidence she has is a bloody bobble hat.

Twyst retains the women of the W.I.S.E. Enquiries Agency to explain the whole thing away, but once these ladies are on the Chellingworth Estate in Wales, they find they're involved in a case that's much more complex and dangerous than anyone could have imagined.

Why the W.I.S.E. Enquiries Agency? Carol is Welsh (and since she's pregnant she's put in charge of the command center in London); Christine is Irish (and with her wealthy background, she's perfect for dealing with aristocrats); Mavis is Scottish (and a former nurse); and Annie is English (and not only English but a  Cockney). Put their nationalities together, and you've got the name of their agency. Not a bad idea, eh?

Cathy Ace has gathered together four women who have the personalities, skills, and blind good luck to carry off an enjoyable series. For this first book she's also come up with a brilliant mystery involving Waterloo teeth. I knew nothing about these teeth, and I certainly do enjoy learning things while I read. 

But while the cast and the mystery are first-rate, the method of delivery fell short for me. I couldn't really immerse myself in the story because most of it was told to me instead of shown. Instead of following along with the characters, becoming accustomed to their voices, and learning things as they learn them, we're told about almost all of it, and that puts a distance between reader and story.

If "told not shown" doesn't bother you, The Case of the Dotty Dowager should be your cup of tea. The book certainly has a lot going for it. As for me, I'm undecided on continuing with the series.   

The Case of the Dotty Dowager by Cathy Ace

ISBN: 9780727884954 

Severn House Publishers © 2015

Hardcover, 224 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 W.I.S.E. Enquiries Agency mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen. 


 

This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham

First Line: Rain.

Fiona Griffiths has been tasked with two things: passing her sergeant's exam with flying colors and logging evidence to help fill in for someone on medical leave. She couldn't be less concerned about her exam, and the monotony of evidence tracking is driving her around the bend. In desperation, she goes to her boss and is given a big stack of cold cases-- anything to keep her quiet.

But as Fiona goes through those cold case files, she begins to piece the tiniest of clues together. A marine engineer found hanged in a locked apartment. A security guard found dead at the base of a cliff in Wales. Artwork that's stolen and then mysteriously returned. What connects the three? Only Fiona believes they are connected, and in her usual inimitable style goes about piecing the facts together to prove that she's right. Her investigating is going to bring her right into the heart of darkness, and her journey is going to be the ultimate test of her mental toughness.

Whenever I see those "all-time favorite" book lists, I avoid them like the plague. I just don't feel like putting all the books that have touched me deeply into an organized and rated row. (Yes, it is a lot like asking a mother to name her favorite child.) However, if someone asked me to name the best mystery series being written today, without hesitation I would say Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffiths. To date, there are four books, and I have given all four the highest possible rating. I can't say that about any other author I've read.

Yes, the setting of Wales adds texture and richness to the books. Yes, the mysteries are some of the most intriguing you'll ever come across. Yes, the pacing draws you inevitably forward, faster and faster. You have to know what happens, and you have to know now. But the best and brightest thing about Harry Bingham's superb series is the main character, Fiona Griffths.

At one time Fiona suffered from Cotard's syndrome, a rare mental illness in which an afflicted person holds the delusion that they are dead, either figuratively or literally. Fiona is one of the brightest people you'll ever run across, but Cotard's syndrome has colored every aspect of her life, and most especially in the way she interacts with other people. As can be seen in This Thing of Darkness, Fiona now has two superior officers who--though they may not really understand her-- can see her almost limitless potential as an investigator. To the best of their ability, they are now trying to groom her for bigger and better things. Will Fiona cooperate? Your guess is as good as mine.

I will warn you that this book does contain scenes of torture, and they do involve Fiona. They are tough to deal with but not impossible because we see these scenes through Fiona's eyes... those eyes that do not see the world as we do. There are also scenes of humor that bring needed warmth and laughter to the book, as when Fiona and Inspector Watkins conduct an interview together.

As different as Fiona is, she can also be very familiar. When she says, "Just when I see a barrier saying Do Not Cross, I have an almost overwhelming impulse to cross it," I understand because I've felt the same way many times.

Harry Bingham is the first writer who's been able to write scenes that take place on board ship that made me seasick, so be forewarned. He also made me nervous about a purchase Fiona made-- an uneasy foreshadowing of what's to come in book five, The Dead House? Unfortunately I'll just have to wait and see.

If you haven't read any of the books in this series, I urge you to do so, and you need to start with the very first book, Talking to the Dead.  If you do that, Fiona will make sense-- and then you will be as hopelessly hooked as I am. Fiona Griffiths is as wild and wonderful in her own way as Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander is in hers. I can't recommend Fiona-- or this entire series-- highly enough.
  

This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham

eISBN: 2940152156331
Sheep Street Books © 2015
eBook, 576 pages

Police Procedural, #4 Fiona Griffiths mystery
Rating: A+
Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham

First Line: I like the police force.

Things are going rather well for Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths of the Cardiff, Wales, police force. For once she feels as though she may have a shot at living on planet Normal. Until the box she ticked on a form stating she was interested in undercover work comes back to haunt her. 

Working undercover as a payroll clerk and an office cleaner, Fiona Griffiths is now Fiona Grey. She's had to give up her old life entirely in order to infiltrate a criminal gang, and when she's finally accepted as one of them, she's totally alone and vulnerable. And the most unpredictable person you'll ever run across.

Quite simply put, I love this series. Three books featuring Fiona Griffiths have been published so far. I've read all three, and I've given all three the highest rating possible. I've never done that before, and it will probably be a long time before I do it again.

My passion for this series has everything to do with the marvelous character Harry Bingham has created. Fiona Griffiths has Cotard's syndrome, a rare mental illness in which the afflicted person is deluded into thinking that they are dead, either figuratively or literally. This affects everything about her. Her behavior. What she eats. If she eats. The way she views the world. What she thinks of other people. Everything. What Fiona wants most in the world is to be a citizen of the planet Normal, and she has to work hard at it. She has to remember to say the things that her boyfriend expects to hear, for instance. 

She's a by-the-book supervisor's nightmare. On the Cardiff police force, she's usually given work that's performed alone because she works best that way-- even if she has grown tired of it. If you begin reading the series from the beginning (Talking to the Dead)-- which I recommend you do-- Fiona's going to seem downright weird. But there's something appealing about her. Perhaps it's because she tries so hard to be normal. Before you know it, you realize that Fiona's stopped being weird; you've actually grown to care about her and to want her to succeed.

The plot of The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths is guaranteed to tie you into knots. The absolute worst thing a person with Cotard's syndrome can do is to work undercover, but that's exactly what Fiona does-- for months at a time. As I watched her begin to melt into her undercover persona, I actually became worried. This book-- and the entire series-- is something that you can easily lose yourself inside, just like Fiona Griffiths is losing herself in Fiona Grey.

The gang she finds herself working for puts her through incredible security measures, and her isolation grows steadily since the only person she has any real contact with is Vic, the extremely violent security specialist for the villains. Fiona's own unpredictability adds to the suspense and to a very real feeling of danger. You never know what she's going to do. Has she just done something incredibly stupid that's ultimately going to get her killed? Or has she just done something brilliant that will convince the bad guys that she's completely under their thumb?

Yes... you can read this book as a standalone if you must, but I don't recommend it. If you're looking for an excellent characterization and tightly woven, exciting plots, you deserve to read every single Fiona Griffith book. Fiona deserves it, too. She's brilliant.
 

The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9781409140924

Orion Books © 2014

Hardcover, 442 pages

Police Procedural, #3 Fiona Griffiths mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham

First Line: Cardiff Prison. September 2010. "Welcome."

Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths welcomes the call about illegal dumping in a Cardiff, Wales, suburb; it saves her from another dull weekend. What she doesn't expect is to find a severed human leg-- complete with a high-heeled shoe-- tucked away in a garage freezer. The police are able to identify the body part as that of a young woman who went missing five years earlier, but just as Fiona starts to get inside the murdered girl's head, another body part is found, and this one belongs to a male. As more body parts are found, the media begin whipping themselves into a frenzy, and-- contrary to the evidence-- Fiona is convinced that these two victims are connected in some way.

My first encounter with DC Fiona Griffiths was in Harry Bingham's Talking to the Dead, and it became one of my Best Reads of 2012. Love Story, With Murders is now one of my Best Reads of 2014, and it has everything to do with Fiona... Fi. 

While in her teens she suffered an unusual sort of breakdown, and it has colored everything in her world: how she relates to people, how she thinks, how she copes with stress. She's almost the idiot savant of the Cardiff police force-- one moment disobeying orders and haring off to do something extremely foolhardy, and the next moment putting totally disparate clues together to crack a case. Reviewers have likened her to Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, and they are similar in their strange intelligence, but where Lisbeth radiates hostility, Fi is often endearing-- especially once you know the truth about her breakdown.

Love Story, With Murders continues the story of Fi's reintroduction to the normal world. She's got a man in her life now, and she works to remember to do all that "boyfriend stuff" that he expects. You can almost chart her progress as the pages turn, and it makes you feel good. She's also developing a rapport with her boss, Rhiannon Watkins, a woman so disliked that she could be "the first murder victim with over a million plausible suspects. A group that would include every one of her CID colleagues." Watkins can see flashes of Fi's brilliance, and Fi always seems to ignore the superficial to see things in people that normally go unnoticed. Boyfriend, boss... and family, for Fi's father also becomes part of the investigation, which is both a worry and a help to the young detective constable.

The case is a true puzzler; however, I was so wrapped up in watching Fiona put the clues together that I made no attempt to solve the crimes ahead of her. Bingham has combined an absolutely brilliant characterization with a finely constructed mystery-- for the second time in a row. Love Story, With Murders can be read as a standalone, but if wonderful characters are one of the main reasons why you read, why deny yourself the pleasure of even one paragraph of Fiona Griffiths' story?

Love Story, With Murders by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9780345533760

Delacorte Press © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Fiona Griffiths mystery

Rating: A+

Source: NetGalley 

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

First Line: I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose stuck in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him.

In 1915, a gawky young girl with her nose in a book stumbled over Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs, and life was forever changed for the both of them. Having retired a few years previously Holmes was not finding the study of honey bees as rewarding as he'd hoped, and bookish, egotistical Mary Russell was like a fierce wind blowing straight out of the Arctic. He sees that she could be a match for him, and she becomes Holmes' protégée, with the approval of both Dr. Watson and Mrs. Hudson.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice tells of the very first cases Holmes and Russell worked together-- scary ones indeed of the kidnap of a little girl, and of a bomber who will stop at nothing to end this new partnership. It works as a mystery to puzzle over, and it works as a character study of two fascinating people. The Beekeeper's Apprentice makes you laugh, it makes you narrow your eyes in suspicion and in thought, and it tugs at your heart strings. Mind and heart, it satisfies on a lot of levels.

This book is one of those that have been recommended to me countless times, and each time, I smiled politely and said that I'd make a note of it. (Well, I did-- a mental note!) I've even had the book sitting on my shelves staring at me balefully each time I walked by. For some reason, I pulled it off the shelf this summer, began to read, and by page 8, I was completely enthralled and utterly unable to stop turning the pages. (Page 8 was the first belly laugh the book got from me.) 

I haven't read much of the Sherlock Holmes canon. From what I did read, I enjoyed the intricate plots, but I felt Watson was a twit, Holmes an insufferable know-it-all, and Mrs. Hudson quite possibly the best of the lot, but since she was a woman, she was scarcely mentioned. What Laurie R. King does with these legendary characters is spectacular. She stays true to the time period and true to Conan Doyle, but blows all the dust off these Victorian tales. What would the great Holmes do if confronted with himself in female form?  All you have to do to find out is to read this book.

First published in 1994, The Beekeeper's Apprentice has already been reviewed hundreds (if not thousands) of times while I was stubbornly staying beneath my rock. Now that I'm out in the full light of day, I can tell you that there are a couple of words you'll very seldom ever see me use in a book review. "Enchanted" is one of them-- and I was enchanted by this book. I had to say so on Facebook and on Twitter, and I'm happy to say that I encouraged another book blogger to get her hands on a copy of her very own. We both chirped away quite happily with @mary_russell and discovered that there are two short stories available for eReaders-- "Beekeeping for Beginners" telling of the meeting of Holmes and Russell from Holmes' point of view, and "Mrs. Hudson's Case" in which the housekeeper gets to do a bit of sleuthing on her own-- that are brilliant little glimpses into this marvelous series. Oh yes, I've been busily gathering up all the rest of the books in King's series, and I have yet to make up my mind whether to have a feast, or to savor each book slowly at long intervals.

What do you think?

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

 ISBN: 9780312427368

Picador © 2007

Paperback, 384 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Mary Russell mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Bookcloseouts

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

First Line: Beyond the window, I can see three kites hanging in the air over Bute Park.

The crime scene is a sad one: a woman killed after a short life ruined by drugs and prostitution... and her small six-year-old daughter lying dead beside her. The only thing that marks this crime scene as unusual is one small piece of evidence. Why would a drug addicted prostitute have the debit card of a very wealthy man who's been dead for months?

Police headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, has more important cases to focus on, but there's one person who can't let this one go: young Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, who's got a reputation for being odd. She can become intensely focused on certain aspects of an investigation, and she doesn't always pick up on social cues. And everyone has heard about that two-year gap in her past.... (Psst! She had a breakdown. Mind-- you never heard it from me!)

Even though she has to get called on the carpet by her superior officer and told that she must do as she's told (no ignoring bits of the investigation that bore her, no haring off on some wild idea that she's gotten), Fi Griffiths has all the hallmarks of a brilliant, intuitive investigator. Told to check out the dead man's credit card and nothing more, Fi rapidly heads off on her own investigation because she's positive that dead little six-year-old has something important to tell her.

From the very beginning, Fiona Griffiths grabbed my attention and my sympathy. Throughout most of the book, her mental state is dealt with mostly by hints and innuendo, but the deeper she dives into this investigation, the more obvious it is that something is very wrong with her. From her flashes of insight and her way of putting clues together, to the way she counts the backwards and forwards "if's" in her name, to the way she tries to begin a relationship with a fellow officer, Fiona is an endearing-- and sometimes maddening-- creature.

She tries so hard to come down to Planet Normal-- to know when to laugh and how to smile at the right times-- that I couldn't help but want to get to know her and help her. So many times throughout the book, Fiona's thoughts would sing across the page and make me smile in recognition... or make my heart break. This is one incredibly memorable character, and I have to know more about her.

The fact that she's involved in a complex and dangerous investigation doesn't hurt one bit either. I couldn't put the pieces of it together and had to rely on Fiona's intuition to get us through. On his website the author states that he's working on more books in the series, and that is very welcome news. One thing that I would hope for in the future is that Fiona learns a bit of caution. The way she plows ahead into danger without waiting for backup-- although it fit the situation-- would mean that she would have a short life expectancy in the real world. Since she's a compelling character who's grabbed my interest in both hands, I want her to live for a good, long time.

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9780345533739

Delacorte Press © 2012

Hardcover, 352 pages

Police Procedural, #1 in the Fiona Griffiths series

Rating: A+

Source: NetGalley

The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth J. Duncan

Title: The Cold Light of Mourning
Author: Elizabeth J. Duncan
ISBN: 9780312558536
Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2009
Hardcover, 288 pages
Genre: Cozy, Amateur Sleuth, #1 Penny Brannigan
Rating: B
Source: Purchased from Bookcloseouts.

First Line: Emma Teasdale had been ill for some time and on a cool evening in early June, alone and peacefully, she died.

When visiting the market town of Llanelen in North Wales as a young student, Penny Brannigan was taken under schoolteacher Emma Teasdale's wing. They became fast friends, and Penny moved from Nova Scotia in Canada to Llanelen where she opened a small nail salon. As the years passed, the two women shared their lives with each other just as a mother and daughter might. Emma's death, although expected, has greatly shaken Penny, leaving her feeling at loose ends.

Perhaps that's why she takes such an interest in the disappearance of bride-to-be Meg Wynne Thompson. Self-made Meg Wynne was about to be married to the local landowner, and townspeople didn't like her much. But when the young woman vanishes on the morning of her wedding and Penny is the last person to see her alive, Penny feels that she should do everything she can to help the police solve the mystery.

Although the identity of the person responsible for Meg Wynne's disappearance was rather transparent to me, there was so much that I liked about this book that I didn't care.

Starting out with the stock characters of a typical small town, Duncan has added layers to them and created a wonderful cast. Penny's troubled youth in Canada has made her an adult who prefers to be in her own company, but she is a genuinely observant and caring person. Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Davies and Detective Sergeant Bethan Morgan are the sort of police officers you want to show up in your town to look for a missing person. Davies in particular quickly learns to appreciate Penny's eye for detail.

Penny isn't the typical amateur sleuth that she describes to friends:

"What, you mean like those dotty middle-aged amateur lady sleuths that you see in books? Tramping all over the evidence, touching things they shouldn't, putting themselves in harm's way, and just generally annoying the police?"

When she feels that she has something important that will help the police find Meg Wynne, she immediately calls them. It certainly is refreshing to have an amateur sleuth be level-headed and sensible, and it's fun to watch the inspector start to take a shine to her.

Although the villain of the piece was easily guessed, what wasn't easy was figuring out how it was all done. Between the characters and the crime details, this was a very enjoyable, light mystery, and I look forward to meeting Penny again.

Learn More from Amazon.

Learn More from The Book Depository.

Learn More from an Indie Bookseller.