Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody

Title: Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody
Author: Barbara Ross
Published: June 30th 2020 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Format: eBook, Paperback, 272 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Jane Darrowfield #1

When I first started this book, it read as if it were a second or third book in the series. The mentioning of past experiences implies the reader should have known what was going on, but in time, it was all explained, leaving the reader ready to find out what Jane Darrowfield is all about.

A year into her retirement, Jane is bored senseless, and if it were not for the problems her bridge club friends found themselves in, Jane would have completely lost her mind. When out of the blue, the director of a local seniors only condominium complex contacts her. It appears there are escalating hostilities amongst the residents, and he was wondering if Jane could move in, in an undercover capacity, maybe she could soothe nerves and get everything back on an even keel. What she didn’t expect were that seniors are no different than high schoolers with their cliques, bullying, and open warfare, resulting in a living nightmare for all involved. Now with a dead man on the golf course, and a growing list of possible suspects, Jane has her hands full, and with the help of a person that no one trusts, Jane sets off on her first official who-done-it, complete with business cards.

The first couple of chapters left me a little uninterested, but within time, and a couple of humorous moments, the characters of Walden Spring caught my attention. Once you allow your mind to accept that seventy-year-olds and seventeen-year-olds are pretty much the same, and can find any number of things to get into, Jane Darrowfield will grow on you.

The Queen's Secret

Title: The Queen's Secret
Author: Karen Harper
Published: May 19th 2020 by William Morrow
Format: eBook, 384 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I should have known. When an author feels a need to outline the who’s who of a novel, even if it involves the royal family, the reader knows that they are in for a long drawn out narrative with overlapping names, this time nicknames, locations, and repetition. With historical fiction, the reader never knows what to believe. Did Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, keep a life-long secret from her husband regarding his brother, or was it the dossier that may not be truthful, or even the secret surrounding her birth, or was there something else that the reader lost sight of when the repetition took over?

Covering Elizabeth Bowles Lyon’s marriage to King George IV, the abdication of her brother-in-law, the raising of the future Queen, and living through WWII, Karen Harper takes the reader through the treachery, rewards, and battles that surrounded the royal family and the country. As the woman behind the man, Elizabeth with the help of Winston Churchill, takes on the role of a soft-spoken spine of steel matriarch that guided the King, and the country, to victory.

I wouldn’t call the book riveting or even fascinating, but it did bring a character, which I had dismissed, to the forefront and presented facets of her life that I had never known existed. Elizabeth was a woman of strength and secrets that was feared by the most powerful men of her day and who could hold her own during the most trying of times.

The Lantern Men

Title: The Lantern Men
Author: Elly Griffiths
Published: February 6th 2020 by Quercus
Format: HeBook, ardcover, 368 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Ruth Galloway #12

This book boiled down to three parts for me. The first and last were thought-provoking, cemented relationships, atmosphere, and reasoning. The middle was nothing but redundant over twisting and retelling of characters and relationships, to the point I was beginning to wonder if the author, Elly Griffiths, needed to recap the story so she could keep it straight herself.

Ruth Galloway has made changes in her life. She has moved from the Saltmarsh to Cambridge with her daughter and partner. Thankfully, her new teaching position means she will have minimal contact with DCI Harry Nelson. Kate will still see her father, but Nelson and Ruth are keeping their distance. All that changes when Ivor March, recently convicted of two murders, is ready to admit that there are more. He will only speak to Ruth, and she must agree to the excavations. As Nelson is the lead investigator, Ruth will once again find herself in an uncomfortable situation. With March’s stories unfolding, and the tale of the Lantern Men, which was an interesting piece of folklore, Ruth, Nelson, and the old team are once again together to find the remains of the women that Ivor had once called friends.

With the Saltmarsh and the Norfolk coast, there is a creepy atmospheric feel to Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway series that I love. Yet, I do wish the next book in the series isn’t so overdrawn, and the author lets the reader connect the dots without complicating the obvious.

A Body in the Village Hall

Title: A Body in the Village Hall
Author: Dee MacDonald
Published: June 29th 2020 by Bookouture
Format: ebook, 238 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Palmer #1

What happened to the humor?

I have enjoyed the past wit and plotting of Dee MacDonald’s books and was eager to see that she is branching out into the cozy genre - a genre that needs more mature sleuths and less bouncing red curls. Unfortunately, the author let me down with slow pacing, very little humor, and the all too familiar “let me find a man” maneuvering.

Kate and her sister Angie have left their city lives behind and have taken to the Cotswold’s where things move at a slower pace. What Kate didn’t anticipate was the dead body in the Village Hall with a rather large and ominous knife sticking out of Fenella, the town floozy. Determined to mind her own business and not get involved, Kate the new practice nurse receives an earful from her patients as to the carryings-on in Lower Tinworthy. Once the murderer feels that Kate is asking too many questions, and getting to close, she must be dealt with. But Kate has other ideas which involve her clandestine relationship with the local detective inspector.

There is great potential for this series if only for a little more humor and a little less repetition, and with this, the Kate Palmer series could be enjoyed for years to come.