Category Archives: Book Reviews

Author Cindy Brown who has several books in this series that I have read. I originally read this book just after reading the second book in this series but have only since decided to publish my review. This book, “Macdeath” is Cindy Brown’s debut novel. Whether it is a debut book or one written by a long standing novelist, it is outstanding. The plot is fun and different, the characters memorable (for both their good and bad traits) and the mystery was a great whodunnit – pointing you this way and that before being solved.

Ivy Meadows (aka Olive Zeigwart) is an actress – well, she has just been cast as a witch in Macbeth. So what if it took literal somersaults and cartwheels to get the part. This version of Macbeth is being set in a circus. All seems going well when one of her cast mates ends up dying on opening night. While everyone, police included, are figuring the death was natural causes, Ivy is not so sure. She starts investigating and ends up well over her head in clues and false starts.

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I’ve read all of Jane Aiken Hodge’s older books (there are several newer ones that I did not know that existed that I will have to read in the future.) I read “Rebel Heiress” last when I was eighteen. Re-reading it as an adult makes a world of difference in understanding some of the nuances of the story.

In this book, Henrietta Marchmont’s American aunt has just passed away – leaving her with precious little while giving the bulk of her estate to the church. Henrietta find information about her father (Lord Marchmont) in England and is able to get passage on an English boat just ahead of the War of 1812. The story is what happens to Henrietta once she makes her way to England and, eventually, to her father’s home.

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I’ve read a number of Lauren Willig’s earlier books and enjoyed them. When I read “The English Wife”, I was happily surprised at how much the author has grown in her ability to weave a multi-level story and keep my interest riveted throughout the book.

In this book, the story switches back and forth between events in the past and those in the present time of the story (1899.)

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This is the first book I have read by Molly MacRae. It is also the second book in this series. I felt a little lost as far as the many characters in this book and I feel that had I read the first book in the series, I might have understood who was who and why they were in the story.

After getting through that bit of a hump, I enjoyed the story. There are references to the last book but not so much that it gives away the plot line of it.

In this story, a prodigal daughter returns home again to the small town in Scotland where she was raised. She is a famous author who has been living in the wilds of Canada. Literally, the wilds. She lives in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. While she is not an appealing individual, as the story evolves, one discovers why she acts as unpleasant as she does.

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