Survivor in Death

Survivor In Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A little girl sneaks to the kitchen in the middle of the night to get an Orange Fizzy from the refrigerator. It is totally against the rules and she is all alone and silent since the friend who spent the night wanted to sleep instead of joining in the adventure. Her brother is also upstairs asleep; she thought about including him but then decided he would only tell on her. So, here she is in the dark, huddled in the corner drinking her fizzy drink, being quiet so as not to wake her parents or the live-in housekeeper.

Just as silently a shadow moves into the room and enters the housekeeper's room. Nixie, the little girl, thinks that it is a boyfriend and that Inga and he will be doing IT. So, still silently, she creeps to the door to spy and is terrified when she sees the man slit Inga's throat and blood gushing out. Quickly, she hides under the table as the shadow rushes out and upstairs. Going back into the roon she finds Inga's link and calls 911. She creeps up the back stairs--she wants her Mom! When she arrives in the room and crawls to the bed, she crawls through the blood of her parents. Shocked and unable to understand, she hides in the closet to await help.

Dallas and Peabody arrive shortly after the black and whites. Realizing all the family is dead but someone called it is, Dallas finds the little girls huddled in the closet. Seeing her immediately takes Dallas back to her own childhood, when covered in her father's blood after she stabbed him, she hid on the streets, alone and terrified. Amazingly, instead of causing Dallas to scoop Nixie in her arms, it causes her to recoil from her. But, she does have the sense to realize this was a finely plotted and executed crime and Nixie is most likely presumed dead. But it is not Nixie, but her friend who has had her throat slit like the others. Nixie must be secured and protected and so she is brought to Roarke's mansion and turned over to Somerset.

Now, it falls to Dallas and her team to discover Why such a seemingly happy family with no indication of illegal connections would have been executed in such a fashion and Who has the ability to override the high tech security system that should have prevented them from entering the home.

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Murder in an Irish Bookshop by Carlene O'Connor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Took A While But Knew Who Dunnit! But, Not Why!

Just a fan of this series. Like the family dynamic; the small town vibe; the Irish color; and the warm love between the Gardi. Add to that a mystery that is difficult to solve because the crime scenes have been contaminated and motives are impossible to identify. If I have any complaint, it is that in this installment there is a great deal of repetition, seemingly to pad the length of the book.

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Review: The Dark Heart of Florence

The Dark Heart of Florence by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I either learn something new or remember something I'd learned in school or add more information to historical events of which I was aware whenever I read one of Lady Emily stories. This one is no different--early Florentine history of feuding sides such as those between guelfs and ghibellines, the rise of the d'Medici and the horrible desecration of art works, books etc by the mad friar Savonarola were not new to me. Tasha Alexander, however, weaves short chapters taking place during Renaissance Florence with its Botticelli era with chapters set in 1903 Florence, when Colin and Lady Emily Hargreaves have been sent by the Crown to investigate the death of one of the Crown's informants. Actually, of course, only Colin is entrusted to investigate along with another agent, Darius. Lady Emily is included in the trip to give Colin's visit the cover of a family holiday to his daughter, Kit's, Pallazzo. To further cover the intent of the visit, Lady Emily is encouraged to include her dear Parisian friend. Celine, in the party.

So, though it sounds confusing and is not, the book has three main mysteries and sleuths going with several minor threads and characters for added excitement. Always delightful and entertaining, the chapters engross the ready in the history, sights and mystery of 15th and early 19th Century Florence before the World Wars forever changed modern history.

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Good To The Last Page !

Murder at the University by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good To The Last Page

If you like a mystery to last until the very end, this one's for you. If all leads are dead ends, this one's for you. And, if the final solution is a satisfying surprise, then this one's definitely for you!

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Taken in Nuala

Taken in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eighth book in this mystery series set in 1930's Ceylon--under British rule it is isolated enough that the rise of Hitler in Europe is hardly making an impact on life there. Although any of the eight books can be read as a stand alone novel, this is one series that is best enjoyed by starting with the first book. The author starts each book with the same introduction, explaining her experiences visiting modern Sri Lanka and how much the place and its people appealed to her. Having planned on a detective series she decided to chose to 30's Ceylon as her setting.

This case involves the kidnapping of two young heiresses, one British, the other, American. During the botched abduction of the American she is killed and the persons responsible become the focus of Shanti de Silva and his officers. Hoping to solve the case rapidly and thus averting any further kidnappings they find themselves without any clues and are at a standstill when the second girl is kidnapped.

In each instance, the determination of the distraught families to pay the ransoms and regain their daughters further hampers the investigations. Still, hamstrung as they are Nuala's finest and the British officials are able to work with locals to make headway without alerting the kidnappers to their efforts.

Finally, the perps are caught in one way or another and Billy and Bella are ensconced in a home with roof and food.

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In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves with a friend, Ivy Brandon are exploring an excavated villa in Pompeii, when Ivy comments on the " sideburns" on one of the plaster-encased victims of the 79AD eruption of Vesuvius. At first, Lady Emily continues talking about the history of the place, until Ivy again states that this particular ancient could have stepped off a London street of the present time, 1902. Romans did not wear sideburns and Colin takes a penknife to the plaster, much to Lady Emily's dismay. What he finds is a very modern dead body encased in plaster to hide it. Needless to say, the authorities are called in, the man identified and his death determined to be murder. And so the Hargreaves embark on their next mystery.

The chapters alternate between the present investigation and the tale of a lady's maid, a slave, given her freedom upon her lady's marriage. Kassandra is a poetess and her former charges new husband entices her to begin secret meetings with him in which she passes him chapters of a poetic epic she is writing. She is torn between loyalty to the woman who has been like a sister to her and her desire to write. Her creative ambition wins out and so her tragedy is revealed alongside the tragedy of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

If you've not been to Pompeii, this book will give you a very good image of the place. If, like myself, you have been there, the memories of the place will become clearer than ever. The history of the Romans and Greeks who lived there and the way of life is as interesting as the details of the archeology digs that have taken place and the wonders they have revealed. Add to that the characters and the mystery of the man's death and this book is a winner!

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Review: Rough Time in Nuala

Rough Time in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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