December book challenge

 This year I have read 44 books. My favorite book is Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy.

Dec*1 ~likeness: historical mystery series

Her Royal Spyness (Royal Spyness #1)

Author: Rhys Bowen

Genre: historical mystery

Page number: 324

First published: 2007

Setting: Scotland and London in 1932

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: There are two disadvantages to being a minor royal.

One sentence comment: It’s the latest historical mystery seies I started to read, and the first book put me into laughter mode often.

     At first I had suspected if I wanted to buy a book about the royal family. However, when I started to read, I found this is a book exactly for me that didn’t care for royal family affairs. Through this book, I remind myself that we shouldn’t see things as they appear on the surface.

The narrator is a down-and-out 21-year-old distant relative of the queen. She had to strive for her survival like most young people who started to make their living. The downside was that a royal member was not supposed to work. Surprisingly, there were so many of them, young and powerless to a new world then. Bowen must be a genius that she captures the tone and voice of young girls on top of the society, as if I were watching the TV series Downtown Abbey. The only thing why the book didn’t get my five stars is that I am too much of a serious temperament for a book full of playful and sharp-tongued jokes.

 

Dec *2~likeness: historical mystery series

Murder on Lenox Hill (Gaslight Mystery #7)

Author: Victoria Thompson

Genre: historical mystery

Page number: 291

First published: 2005

Setting: New York in late 19^th century

Rating: stars

First sentence: The weather was so miserable, even Mrs. Ellsworth was indoors, Sarah Brandt noted as she hurried down the windy street to her house.

One sentence comment: I have always wanted to know more about what would happen to the characters in the series.

     This is the first historical mystery series I have been following since 2021. I only read two or three books a year, thus I am able to check whether I would grow out of my favor of the series.

     The dual point of views from both protagonists, Sarah and Frank, a midwife and police officer, give me snapshots of the last few years of the 19th century New York, from its upper class, immigrants, to gutters. In this book, the focus is on a church preacher who devotes to fatherless boys.

     The  character development is overwhelming. Sarah has taken in an orphan girl, who was once traumatized with unknown reasons to us, so she could not speak. Frank's son has gone into a school to learn a sign language. Another fun is that Theodore Roosevelt, who was on top of the police force before becoming the 26th president in 1898, is lurking in the background.

 

Dec *3~likeness: historical mystery series

Where Serpents Sleep (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery #4)

Author: C. S. Harris

Genre: historical mystery

Page number: 346

First published: 2008

Setting: London in 1812

Rating: stars

First sentence: The girl stared out the window, one hand sliding up and down her shawl – covered arm in a ceaseless, uneasy motion.

One sentence comment: I have admired with excitement the characterization and dialogues in the series.

     This is my favorite historical mystery series to follow. Somehow Harris gives me the feels of the 19^th century French authors, Dumas and Hugo, whom I read as a child. The first fun part of this book is that – while the weak Regent was facing Luddites, those who hid their faces and smashed machines in the country, the prime minister Perceval equates the former American colonies with the new satanic threat from the bible prophesy. America was trying to annex Canada at the time. I love the peripheral part of the story that the Prince was tough with America, defending the interest of Canada and British shipping interests.

On the personal level, I love domestic affairs of lord Jarvis, the antagonist of the series. Her daughter Hero, against her father’s conservative attitude, was taking the lead to investigate the crime that had involved her as a witness. Hero started to take a major role telling her feelings. It reminded of my feelings when I grew up, such as “there were times when the contrast between the way lady Jarvis was now and the way Hero remembered her was enough to bring the sting of tears to her eyes.” It is forever a pang that you see someone you love deteriorating.

Harris is my favorite author because her books follow well-reasearched events and she is wise enough to bring about lively characters to show the world within and outside them. She said “At the same time that Sebastian is evolving and changing, we watch Britain and the world around him change, too.”

https://crimereads.com/how-do-you-keep-a-long-running-series-fresh-the-secret-is-character/

 

Dec *4~likeness: historical mystery series

Jane and the man of the cloth (Jane Austen Mystery #2)

Author: Stephanie Barron

Genre: cozy mystery

Page number: 335

First published: 1997

Setting: Lyme Regis in 1804

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the expectation of pleasure is grnerally preferred to its eventual attainment – the attainment being marred, at its close, by the resumption of quotidian routine made onerous by the very diversions so lately enjoyed.

One sentence comment: The story gets better to the end, and I realize that Lyme Regis  is actually a good place for a mystery because its Jurassic-age site welcomes new people.

     Lyme Regis is Austen's favorite town, a  medieval town on the coast of Dorset. Barren cleverly drew together exciting elements of Lyme Regis, such as archeology, smuggling, and the historical fire, to form a mystery. She even added a touch of romance to Austen. However, the course of story development is very bland, and Austen is highly unlikely to have this sort of romance.