Bookish Bron: mystery

kidlit :: Malamander :: Thomas Taylor

Thomas Taylor's Malamander is a delightfully creepy book for middle grade readers...

Nobody visits Eerie-on-Sea in the winter. Especially not when darkness falls and the wind howls around Maw Rocks and the wreck of the battleship Leviathan, where even now some swear they have seen the unctuous malamander creep…

Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, knows that returning lost things to their rightful owners is not easy – especially when the lost thing is not a thing at all, but a girl. No one knows what happened to Violet Parma’s parents twelve years ago, and when she engages Herbie to help her find them, the pair discover that their disappearance might have something to do with the legendary sea-monster, the Malamander. Eerie-on-Sea has always been a mysteriously chilling place, where strange stories seem to wash up. And it just got stranger..

I thought this was such a fun read! It is mysterious and atmospheric from the very first page, and has kind of a gothic feel to it. The setting was amazing - it really felt like a creepy seaside town, and the myth and legend around the town was really cool. I also loved the cast in this one - Herbert and Violet make wonderful heroes, and they come up against some fantastically quirky villains.

I sped through the story because I couldn't stop wanting to know what happened next. I'm delighted to see there are more books planned because I think we have a lot more to discover about Herbie, Vi, and Eerie-on-the-Sea.

I think this would be a great for readers about 9 years old and up - while the issues are largely relevant to younger readers (friendship, fitting it etc) it is a little bit scary sometimes - it would also be great to read with younger kids, and would make a fun read-aloud too.
I definitely recommend picking this one up!

xo Bron

***

Malamander by Thomas Taylor

Out now from Walker Books

Source: Thanks so much to Walker Books for sending a free copy of Malamander for me to review!

Category: Middle grade mystery
Themes: Friendship, family, identity

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In christmas, cosy

Review :: Cosy Christmas Mysteries

We all know I love a good cover, and alongside that I'm a big fan of a pun in a title and a cat on the cover, so it's kind of surprising that I don't read more cosy mysteries! This week, though, I do have two cosy Christmassy mysteries to share with you! Both of these I requested review copies of based solely on the titles and covers =)

Purring Around the Christmas Tree :: Liz Mugavero

In the New England town of Frog's Ledge, the Holiday Light Festival is a Christmas tradition. Killing Santa is not. To bring joy back to the season, organic pet patisserie owner Kristan "Stan" Connor will have to find another Santa before it's too late . . .

I know it is not unusual for cosy mysteries to be part of a bigger series, but often you can pick up a book in the middle of the series and not lose too much from not having read the previous ones. I didn't find that to be the case here. There were so many great quirky characters, but I just found myself a bit overwhelmed not only by the number of character I kept being introduced to, but the amount of the back story of each that was explained (I presume from previous books) but not really relevant to this particular story - it felt a bit like being dropped into Stars Hollow with the Gilmore Girls and introduced to everyone in town at once. That said, the story was enjoyable, and I did like the characters, but would recommend starting this series from book one rather than picking this up first (it's book 6 in the series).

Twelve Slays of Christmas :: Jacqueline Frost

When Holly White's fiance cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime--exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society Margaret Fenwick is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly's family tree farm.

When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly's father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn't help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father, and is determined to exonerate him.The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn't watch out, she'll end up on Santa's naughty list.

This was my preferred book of the two cosy Christmassy mysteries I read - possibly in part because it was the first in the series. I enjoyed the writing style (I hardly even noticed the first person narrator, which I tend to not be a fan of) and really felt quite swept up into the story and Mistletoe’s Christmassy charm. If you’re after a festive mystery, I’d definitely recommend checking this one out!

***

Purring Around the Christmas Tree and The Twelve Slays of Christmas are both out now. I received review e-book copies through NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews, but only chose to read them because they sounded like books I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it a book was good if I didn't really think so. =)

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, by Bron

In historical fiction, mystery

Review :: The Mitford Murders :: Jessica Fellowes

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In cosy, middle grade

Review :: The Clue in the Trees :: Margi Preus

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Book description (from NetGalley)

Francie’s brother Theo has secrets—secrets Francie thinks she wants to know. But what if one of those secrets is that Theo is a murderer? To avoid considering that possibility, Francie plunges into her senior year at a small-town high school near Enchantment Lake in northern Minnesota. It’s a radical change from her private school in New York, but she hopes to keep an eye on her great aunts and maybe finally learn more about the mother she never knew. A small silver box seems to hold the answers, and she is determined to get her hands on it.

But when her long-lost brother turns up, so does a dead body, and once again Francie is drawn into a mystery. A long list of suspects, with Theo at the top, keeps her head spinning. When Francie herself becomes a suspect she starts to feel like she is walking on thin ice, but it isn’t until she is literally walking on thin ice that the pieces start to come together—and by then it may be too late.

In her previous adventure Enchantment Lake, Francie was thrown into northern Minnesota lake living: fishing, berry picking, lost kayaks and scary boat rides, poisoned hotdishes, exploding bulldozers, a forest fire . . . and murder. But if she thinks things have settled down, she’s in for a surprise. A new school with new friends (and a few enemies), a lead role in a play, an encounter with a giant muskie, archaeological twists, secret tunnels, thin ice, and a strangely sticky murder are all coming her way in The Clue in the Trees."

This was a fun book with a proper cozy mystery feel.

I didn't realise when I picked it up that it is in fact the second book in a series, but I didn't feel lost at all and found it enjoyable without having read the first.

Although the main character is in her senior year at high school I thought it had a middle grade feel, and I felt like it did a fantastic job of keeping me on the edge of my seat without being too scary.

This got 3 stars from me, and I'm keen to find the first book to read too!

The Clue in the Trees by Margi Preus is out now from University of Minnesota Press.

I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like something I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it a book was good if I didn't really think so.

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, by Bron

In cosy, mystery

Review :: Away with the Fairies :: Phryne Fisher

** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**

It’s 1928 in Melbourne and Phryne is asked to investigate the puzzling death of a famous author and illustrator of fairy stories. To do so, Phryne takes a job within the women’s magazine that employed the victim and finds herself enmeshed in her colleagues’ deceptions.
But while Phryne is learning the ins and outs of magazine publishing first hand, her personal life is thrown into chaos. Impatient for her lover Lin Chung’s imminent return from a silk-buying expedition to China, she instead receives an unusual summons from Lin Chung’s family, followed by a series of mysterious assaults and warnings.

So it turns out Phryne Fisher is really hard to 'review'. I mean, what is there to say? I picked it up because it's Phryne Fisher. It's good because it's Phryne Fisher. Haha. In any case, this latest (for me, I mean. It is actually book #11 in the series, which puts it around halfway in terms of the books so far) book was as good as ever.

So, let's talk Phryne in general. One of the things I love about this series is the way it gives us some insight into the struggle for women being expected to return to the 'ordinary' (ie the home) after the war, when many of them had been doing extraordinary things while the men were away. I felt like we got a really god look at that in this books, and I particularly liked the bits about Phryne's women's club, and the fact that they were trying to protect the stories of women, which they knew would otherwise be lost to men's version of history.

If you're a Phryne fan and haven't read this one yet, get on it. If you haven't read Phryne before, this is as good a place to start as any! (Well, kind of - the stories build on each other a little bit in the background, in terms of who are Phryne's friends and colleagues, how they met etc, but not is a way that means you truly have to read them in order).

I gave this one three stars.

xo Bron

Away With the Fairies (Phryne Fisher #11) by Kerry Greenwood is out now from Poisoned Pen.

I received an e-book copy in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like something I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it was good if I didn't really think so. =)

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In cosy, mystery

Review :: Unnatural Habits :: Kerry Greenwood

I'm pretty familiar with Kerry Greenwood's work - having read a couple of her Phryne Fisher books before (as well as her Corinna Chapman series, which I like even more), so I was more than happy to receive a couple of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries from Poisoned Pen Press to review here on the blog.

1929: Girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty, golden haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous.

Polly Kettle, a pushy, self important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate and promptly goes missing herself.

It’s time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It’s all piracy and dark cellars, convents and plots, murder and mystery …. and Phryne finally finds out if it’s true that blondes have more fun.

One of my favourite things about a character, like Phryne, who the author has been writing for so many books is that they feel so real that they could practically walk off the page. Every single thing Phryne does or says is so Phryne. As always, I enjoyed spending time with this clever, witty, and somewhat judgemental woman. I also love seeing how her relationships with her friends and minions develop across the series. The extra bonus for me is the glimpses Greenwood gives us into Phryne's Melbourne - I loved reading the authors notes in the back about the ways the story was rooted in real 1920s Melbourne.

The story itself was fun and twisty, and a bit horrifying, really. It centres around the treatment of 'fallen' (ie pregnant out of wedlock) women - the timing was pretty good for me right now, with feminism and books like The Handmaid's Tale right at the front of our minds.

I gave this 3.5 stars - mystery-solving fun with a familiar friend

xo Bron

Unnatural Habits (Phryne Fisher #19) by Kerry Greenwood is out now from Poisoned Pen. I received an e-book copy in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like something I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it was good if I didn't really think so. =)

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Pages

kidlit :: Malamander :: Thomas Taylor

Review :: Cosy Christmas Mysteries

Review :: The Mitford Murders :: Jessica Fellowes

Review :: The Clue in the Trees :: Margi Preus

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Review :: Away with the Fairies :: Phryne Fisher

Review :: Unnatural Habits :: Kerry Greenwood

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Pages

kidlit :: Malamander :: Thomas Taylor

Review :: Cosy Christmas Mysteries

Review :: The Mitford Murders :: Jessica Fellowes

Review :: The Clue in the Trees :: Margi Preus

** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**

Review :: Away with the Fairies :: Phryne Fisher

Review :: Unnatural Habits :: Kerry Greenwood

About me

Find me here

Get in touch with me

Popular Posts

recent posts

Blog Archive

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own