Review: Murder on the Royal Crescent

Murder on the Royal Crescent by Harriet F. Townson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

It is December 1936, Dora Wildwood is a junior librarian at the London Library and an aspiring detective. Her godmother Dreda asks her to go to Bath to see what is wrong with her (Dreda's) brother Lord Frank Meroe and his companion/servant Bridgend. Apparently Frank was recently attacked in the street and when Dreda saw him he looked terrified.

When Dora gets to Bath, specifically the Royal Crescent she discovers that Frank and his neighbours have been friends since childhood, many of them growing up on the Crescent. Bridgend and Frank grew up together, Bridgend actually saved Dreda from the fire which engulfed their ancestral home and between them Bridgend and Frank saved several items from the fire. Caroline and Evangeline Palmer were friends of Frank's and the older half-sisters of Frank's fiancée Daisy who was mysteriously killed on the Crescent in 1916. Pargeter Thicknesse was friends with Frank and his older brother Lord Dursley, an intrepid adventurer in his day, Pargeter was wounded in WW1 and now needs a stick to get around, assisted by his son Joseph. Gerald St John didn't live on the Crescent as a child but he was friends with Frank and Pargeter before the war and has recently moved back to Bath where is an antiques dealer and 'fixer' with his young and glamorous wife Leila.

When Dora gets to Frank's house all of the friends are gathered for the monthly Discussion Society meeting where they (naturally) discuss the work's of Bath's famous writer Jane Austen. Dora can feel the tension between the parties, but the evening is cut short when one of them is murdered in a way very similar to that of poor Daisy Palmer - exactly 20 years to the day before.

Dora recommends that the local police call in Scotland Yard, and in particular Detective Inspector Fox, someone she has had dealings with in the past, albeit they last parted under a cloud. But the more they investigate the more motives they uncover for both murders.

This is a difficult book to review. I honestly disliked the book intensely for at least the first third, maybe even half, of the book. It was all an info dump. Having finished the book and scanned the start for pertinent facts for the review I can see all the information was useful but should have been trickle-fed to the reader slowly, I felt like I was drowning in characters and names and back-story about Dora's ex-fiancée, her forbidden love, the spat with DI Fox etc. Then it suddenly started to get interesting as the threads started to pull together, even if sometimes they then pulled in a completely different direction. Leaving me at the end rather enjoying it overall. I also enjoyed reading the author's notes at the end about how much of the story is based on real events at the time, places and people.

Overall, although it could be read as a standalone I think the reader (ie me) would appreciate the info-dump at the start more if they had read the previous books in this series as it would act as a reminder of what occurred previously. I will definitely look out for the previous books and the next book in the series.

There are also hints of a new role for Dora in the future.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know by Sophia Holloway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kitty's step-brother's fiancée doesn't want Kitty hanging around after they are married, so he gives her an ultimatum, be cast out without a penny or marry the Earl of Ledbury, a handsome but dissolute nobleman who needs a wealthy wife.

Married in haste, Kitty and Ledbury spark off one another, and not in a good way. But they do manage to find some common ground in their mutual love of horses. They could be on their way to becoming a couple for real if Ledbury's former lover wasn't stirring the pot.

This was pleasant enough, but it was too reminiscent of some of Georgette Heyer's novels - and nothing can compare (in my eyes) to her - to be anything more.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

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Review: Murder in Bologna: Read the BRAND NEW Italian cozy mystery for 2026 from bestselling author T.A. Williams, set in beautiful Bologna

Murder in Bologna: Read the BRAND NEW Italian cozy mystery for 2026 from bestselling author T.A. Williams, set in beautiful Bologna by T.A. Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of Anna's colleagues approaches Dan, his son has died at Bologna's prestigious Art Institute of a massive heroin overdose and he can't believe that his son took drugs at all or, as the police believe, committed suicide. He asks Dan to investigate his son's death and discover the truth.

Although there is nothing untoward and all the people Dan speaks to find it ridiculous that the boy could have been murdered, Dan just has an inkling that things don't add up.

Meanwhile, whilst he is in Bologna, Dan's friend Commissario Virgilio Pisano asks Dan to surreptitiously investigate a Florentine who has recently moved into a luxury apartment in an exclusive building in Bologna. The Florentine police suspect him of working with the US mafia, as well as drug dealing and other offences but have never been able to make charges stick.

This is yet another satisfying cosy mystery starring former UK police detective Dan and his canine sidekick Oscar. I swear every time I read one of these books I put on seven pounds!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Summer Between Us

The Summer Between Us by Jennifer Probst
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rowan was a promising surfer until she injured her knee in a wipe-out. Now she works in a surf shop and has stopped having anything to do with the sea.

Everett is a single father, balancing a high pressure job in hotel development with looking after he daughter Kelsey. They are in Waikiki for the summer to open a new eco-hotel before returning to New York.

When Kelsey enters Rowan's surf shop Rowan recognises a lonely little girl and despite her initial reservations she agrees to teach Kelsey to surf. However, Kelsey is less than honest with Everett about where she is taking lessons and he is horrified when he discovers she has been visiting a ramshackle surf shop on a different beach rather than the surf school at one of the hotels.

Can an uptight, career guy take a breath, reconnect with his daughter, and learn to enjoy life? Can a free-spirited surfer connect with a teenager and her suited and booted father?

This was pleasant enough but there wasn't any real tension and everything felt a little soft focus.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Secrets of a Winter Escape

Secrets of a Winter Escape by Sue Moorcroft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Erin thought her only family was her mother Lisa until she received a letter from an Italian lawyer informing her that her paternal grandmother had died and that she had inherited one-third of a guest house in Como with her two half-sisters.

After an unplanned pregnancy and miscarriage Erin goes back to work as a media manager for a motor sports company too soon and ends up having an argument with her immediate supervisor which leads to her contract being terminated and her being put on gardening leave. After a disastrous birthday party that Lisa throws for Erin which is more of a speed dating job search, Erin escapes to the guest house to lick her wounds for a few weeks before Christmas.

Caleb is a professional footballer for an Italian Series A club. He went skiing for a friend's stag do and injured himself, putting his career in jeopardy. Anxious to avoid the paparazzi he is staying at the guest house while he recovers since it is close to the rehabilitation facility in San Sebastian. To avoid detection he has also shaved off his beard and grown out his distinctive haircut.

Being more interested in formula motor sport Erin doesn't recognise Caleb, although she does wonder why one Italian couple seem to ask him for his autograph at breakfast. When Caleb slips and falls in reception Erin rushes to help, and they seem to be getting on well, until she mentions that she is in media. Not only is Caleb hiding from the paparazzi, he has also been blasted in the tabloids after his ex-girlfriend claimed he dumped her out of the blue (when really she was at fault). But after this rocky start the two become close as Erin helps Caleb map out a social media strategy to rehabilitate his image using her contacts in the industry. Will business stray into pleasure? They've both come out of bad relationships, can they trust again? Do they have a future with Erin living in England and Caleb working in Italy?

I actually enjoyed this second book more than the first one, maybe I identified more with Erin? Perhaps it is just familiarity with the setting, the characters and the back story. Anyway, if you want a charming Christmassy romance set in beautiful Italy you'll love this.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Man with the Golden Compass

The Man with the Golden Compass by Vaseem Khan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

This is the second outing for James Bond's Q as a detective. I didn't read the first one but this can be read as a standalone.

Q has been called in by his local police force to assist in the investigation of the torture and murder of a local eccentric billionaire Lawrence Noble who made his money developing computer games. The only problem Q will be reporting to the woman he loved and left 30 years ago. Why was Noble tortured? Why was he wearing a suit used in gaming? Why were there three glasses of whisky beside him? Why was one hand left untethered?

The book is from the James Bond oeuvre so of course there are going to be shadowy billionaires plotting world domination with secret rooms and weird fetishes and it doesn't disappoint, yet at the same time its a cosy mystery set in a small village where the local librarians help with research.

A fun read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Trust Fall

Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Julia's family inherit a fortune and a fabulous house in Manhattan from an elderly neighbour - a big difference from their mom and pop shop in Nebraska. There were two conditions to the inheritance the family must live in the New York house for six months, and Julia and her twin brother must attend an elite private school.

Julia's benefactor is the great-uncle of Damion, although he was more of a father to Damion than his own father. Damion's parents are already super-rich but believe that they should have inherited the wealth and are determined to prove that Julia's family somehow tricked them out of their inheritance. ON his own part, Damion and his uncle had made plans for Damion's future, which did not include going to the Ivy League university his father and grandfather intended - without the inheritance he may have to kow-tow to his father's wishes.

When given the opportunity to tutor Julia in maths Damion jumps on the chance, determined to uncover dirt on the family. Instead, they start falling for each other. But with a big secret between them do they have a future?

My bad, I didn't realise that this was a Mean Girls meets Gossip Girl type of novel and I found Damion's internal monologue in particular a bit whiney and his insistence that he wasn't a good guy a bit meh. I feel like I'd seen/read most of the characters before and I didn't think a lot of the plot really made sense - why did Damion's great-uncle leave New York and why didn't Damion ever go to visit him if they were so close?

Anyway, I'm probably too old for the target demographic for this book. An enjoyable, if predictable opposites attract YA/NA romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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