Half a Soul

Half a Soul
by Olivia Atwater
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780356518763
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Pages: 280
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Orbit

It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

A reading friend read this recently and called it a sweet, cozy read and my local library had a copy so I thought, why not?

It’s definitely sweet, but I might call it closer to YA than cozy. I’m not sure I can explain why though – maybe because of the strong fairy tale parallels? Either way, Atwater is a solid writer who definitely has a moral to share in this story – one that comes across strong, and almost heavy handedly, to this reader, but might be right on target for younger, or less cynical – or more passionate – readers. For me, the message was better shared in the author’s Afterword, when she tells the story about the little girl on the beach, throwing all the struggling, beached, fish back into the sea. (For those that haven’t heard it: a man approaches the little girl and asks her why she bothers, the fish are going to die, it doesn’t matter; to which she replies “it matters to this one”.)

I struggle with nasty, mean characters that don’t end up the centre of a murder investigation by the end of the book, so I struggled with the Aunt’s treatment of Dora; treatment she faced no consequences for. I enjoyed the strong friendships though, and the satire of the British ton that was faire land was acerbic.

All in all it was a light read strongly focused on kindness.

Spells for Forgetting

Spells for Forgetting
by Adrienne Young
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781529425314
Publication Date: September 27, 2022
Pages: 349
Genre: Magical Realism
Publisher: Quercus

'There were tales that only the island knew. Ones that had never been told. I knew, because I was one of them.'

Emery Blackwood's life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. She'd once dreamt of running away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and chase new dreams together. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among this tight-knit community steeped in folklore and tradition, ruled by the seasons and ancient superstitions.

But when August returns after fourteen years to bury his mother's ashes, Emery must confront her first love and the reason he left so abruptly. But the town wants August gone again. And as the island begins to show signs of strange happenings, the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily's death once and for all.

I don’t know what the heck to say about this book. The writing is excellent, and I keep thinking about this book days after I’ve read it, so while I sort of want to give this a lower rating because I found the story a little unsatisfying, the writing and its lingering effects will keep it a 4.

This is definitely a magical realism story, and there’s a mystery too. I loved the magical realism, but the mystery is what left me unsatisfied. Specifically, the ending. I can’t say anything else without potentially spoiling it; it was well-crafted, but unsatisfying.

The author brought life to the island, whose name I cannot pronounce, and to the characters. It’s multiple POV, and one of the better done one’s that I’ve read, with Young managing to jump timelines and POVs without making the flow bouncy or jarring.

That’s all I’ve got; I’ve been sitting on this one for a few days, trying to figure out what I think about it. It’s good, but I’m going to have to re-read it to dig a bit deeper.

Belladonna

Belladonna
by Adalyn Grace
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781529367225
Publication Date: August 30, 2022
Pages: 408
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her wellbeing – and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy.

Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger, and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.

Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer, though, is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful – and more irresistible – than she ever dared imagine.

A reluctant 3 stars. I bought this because I got sucked in by a pretty cover, and all the elements were there to make an interesting story: murders, poison, Death as a character, ghosts, and while it was technically written well enough to merit three stars, I didn’t find much to like about it. Some YA is written so well that it’s ageless, but this isn’t one of those YA’s. There’s a complete lack of sophistication to the writing, and the story should have been edited into a much tighter structure. The mystery was good though – the author totally plotted murder and attempted murder without me having a clue.

The reason I wouldn’t recommend this book though, is I personally found the MC ridiculous. Yes, she had a very difficult life, being shuffled from one guardian to another, all of whom were only interested in her money and treated her terribly. Yes, she’s lonely. Neither is an excuse for her childish behaviour or her lack of self. 75% of the book is all about her wanting to look pretty and act pretty and attract a husband so that she can join society – because then they’ll have to like her. She’s 19, she has the powers of Death himself, and she’s an idiot. She has her great awakening in the last 25% of the book, where she suddenly decides to hell with conventions and to just be herself, which was both entirely too late coming, and entirely too unbelievable.

A very average book with a weak MC. All in all, a waste of a gorgeous cover.

A Death in Door County (Monster Hunter Mystery, #1)

A Death in Door County
by Annelise Ryan
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780593441572
Series: Monster Hunter Mystery #1
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley

Morgan Carter, owner of the Odds and Ends bookstore in Door County, Wisconsin, has a hobby. When she’s not tending the store, she’s hunting cryptids—creatures whose existence is rumored, but never proven to be real. It’s a hobby that cost her parents their lives, but one she’ll never give up on.

So when a number of bodies turn up on the shores of Lake Michigan with injuries that look like bites from a giant unknown animal, police chief Jon Flanders turns to Morgan for help. A skeptic at heart, Morgan can’t turn down the opportunity to find proof of an entity whose existence she can’t definitively rule out. She and her beloved rescue dog, Newt, journey to the Death’s Door strait to hunt for a homicidal monster in the lake—but if they’re not careful, they just might be its next victims.

This arrived just as I was finishing my last Halloween Bingo read, and it felt like just the thing to start next. I’ve read most of Ryan’s previous work, and I’m a huge fan of her Mattie Winston series, but I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. It’s fun, and it has a lot to like, but it might be a case of too much of a good thing.

First the device I didn’t care for at all: Morgan, the MC, has a tragic past – seriously brutal. It isn’t the tragedy or the retelling of it that I didn’t care for, but the lack of resolution. It’s clear that this is going to be a background ‘thing’ that lurks in future books in the series. I’m sort of over multi-book story arcs and this one, because of its nature, interests me even less than most.

Morgan as a character, though, is kind of refreshing. She’s very pragmatic, so there’s no cutesy giddiness that has invaded cozies in the last decade. She runs a mystery bookshop, but it’s also a shop that sells macabre and weird items, which I love, but there were a few times it felt like the author was trying to make the reader uncomfortable. As if she’s single handedly trying to over-correct the current course of the cozy sub-genre. This is a tactic I appreciate, but might have been done a bit more subtly.

She is also a cryptozoology consultant, and she comes at it from the perspective of a sceptic: think Mulder’s desire to believe and Scully’s need for scientific explanation rolled into one personality. She has degrees in biology and zoology and really is a highly rational MC. I liked her, but I feel like Ryan’s still trying to find her footing with her. Ryan has an easier time of it with the supporting cast, who are all quirky, but also instantly likeable. Newt the dog was awesome. Seriously, I think he’s every animal lover’s dream dog, and Morgan every dog’s dream owner.

The plot was … interesting but not well constructed. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind what they were ultimately looking for – it was obvious from their very first boat trip. There were moments where the author stumbled a bit, trying to meld a cryptozoological investigation with investigations into the deaths of the victims; ungraceful moments when it was clear the MC was overstepping but the story couldn’t really move forward if she didn’t. Still, there were a few unique bits and pieces along the way, and the solution was satisfying. I’ll definitely and happily read the next book and look forward to a fun new series (fingers crossed).

A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers that Used Them

A Taste for Poison: Eleven deadly molecules and the killers who used them
by Neil Bradbury
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250270757
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Pages: 291
Genre: History, Science
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

A brilliant blend of science and crime, A TASTE FOR POISON reveals how eleven notorious poisons affect the body--through the murders in which they were used.

As any reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring—and popular—weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict?

In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and true crime, Dr. Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level. Alongside real-life accounts of murderers and their crimes—some notorious, some forgotten, some still unsolved—are the equally compelling stories of the poisons involved: eleven molecules of death that work their way through the human body and, paradoxically, illuminate the way in which our bodies function.

Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin & tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads readers on a riveting tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive—or don’t.

Previous readers (who listened to audio versions, if that makes any difference) warned me that the format was a bit monotonous, so I went in with expectations firmly in place. Perhaps because I was reading a hard copy, I didn’t find the format to be too same/same. I whizzed through the book though, in a way I seldom do for non-fiction, so it’s a fast, easy read. While I liked the case studies he provided overall, I really appreciated the more contemporary accounts; I feared a bit that he’d recycle the same old case studies so often used in books of similar subjects. Plus, you don’t hear about people trying to poison people much anymore, unless they’re an enemy of a state that speaks … oh, say, Russian.

I did find the writing to be a little bit unsophisticated – not so much that it hindered the reading experience, but it’s probably why it was a fast read. I heavily skimmed the epilogue, for example, because it read entirely too much like the summaries we used to have to write in high school as part of our 500 word essays. What I did take away from the epilogue though, was that I missed more than just the ‘castle where Hogwart’s was filmed’ when I ran out of time for Alnwick that day many years ago – I missed the poison garden! Damn!

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022, for the Arsenic and Old Lace square. This completes my squares and I have now reached a Bingo Card Blackout. No Bingos, yet, but they’re all there, just waiting for the calls.

The Bat

The Bat
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Rating: ★★★
isbn: Dell #0465
Publication Date: August 23, 1969
Pages: 224
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Dell

For months, the city has lived in fear of the Bat. A master criminal hindered by neither scruple nor fear, he has stolen over one million dollars and left at least six men dead. The police are helpless, the newspapers know nothing—even the key figures of the city's underworld have no clue as to the identity of the Bat. He is a living embodiment of death itself, and he is coming to the countryside. There, he will encounter the only person who can stop him: adventurous sixty-five-year-old spinster Cornelia Van Gorder. Last in a long line of New York society royalty, Cornelia has found old age to be a bore, and is hungry for a bit of adventure. She's going to find it—in a lonely old country house where every shadow could be the Bat.

Way back when I read The Circular Staircase, people told me about The Bat; that it was a re-novelisation of a play based on The Circular Staircase and widely considered to be an improvement on the original. So, I bought a copy of The Bat when I found one.

Alas, this was not, in my opinion, an improvement on the original. It was definitely funny – it seemed to go for the outright humor, playing to the audience for laughs. The blatant switch of targets for the racism was incredibly disappointing, although the dichotomy of respect and thoughtless remarks remains the same as the original. There was an added bonus of outright misogyny here too that irritated me to no end; and I really wanted to drown Dale for being so weak and vapid.

I don’t know if it’s because I read TCS, or because The Bat was simplified for stage production, but the plot failed to please me as much as the original – it’s a bare bones version of the one that gave me such welcome surprises in TCS.

All in all in was a fun read but not at all as good as the original in my opinion.

I read this for the Gothic square on my Halloween Bingo 2022 card and as a buddy read with Moonlight Reader, Peregrinations, and BrokenTune.

The Kennel Murder Case

The Kennel Murder Case
by S. S. Van Dine
Rating: ★★★½
Publication Date: December 1, 1946
Pages: 243
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Bantam Press

Archer Coe, a collector of Chinese ceramics, is found dead in his bedroom, the only door to which is securely bolted on the inside. District Attorney John F.-X. Markham and Sergeant Heath of the Homicide Bureau--and even the Medical Examiner--regard Coe's death as suicide. But Philo Vance soon proves that it is a sinister and subtly concocted murder. The circumstances surrounding it are so mysterious and contradictory that, for a while, no solution seems possible. But in the end Philo Vance, through his knowledge of Chinese ceramics and Scottish terriers, brings the case to a conclusion as satisfactory as it is startling.

The story moves swiftly, one mystery crowding another. For sheer action and suspense, and for interesting
characterization, it is one of the very best of Van Dine's incomparable Philo Vance novels.

A well-written, fast paced locked room mystery that tried entirely too hard to be too clever. Van Dine seemed determined to write a mystery that the reader couldn’t solve, and in the process went entirely over the top.

Originally written in 1933, the writing suffers from the casual racism of the age (specifically against Chinese), with the sergeant assigned to the case coming across as the most ignorant – even interrogating all the suspects like he was in a bad noir detective novel. Vance was entirely too suave and expert at positively everything; the author’s attempt to have him appear at times humble and stumped a complete failure, as he refuses to speculate wit the detectives or share the ‘clues’ he’s ferreted out.

Still and all, it was entertaining to read and it didn’t drag. I could have done without the animal cruelty and death, but both instances happened so fast and were over, but still, had I known about them, I’d have likely skipped reading this altogether, even if the rest of it entertained.

I read this for the Vintage Mystery square in Halloween Bingo 2022.

The Honjin Murders

The Honjin Murders
by Louise Heal Kawai (Translator), Seishi Yokimizo
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781782277316
Publication Date: November 12, 2020
Pages: 189
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Pushkin Press

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour – it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music – death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. The murder seems impossible, but amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to get to the bottom of it.

I wavered between 3.5 and 4 stars; ultimately, I’m going with 4. This is a really well-written, cleverly plotted ode to the Golden Age of mystery, specifically, the golden age of locked room mysteries (I loved all the name dropping!). Even though it’s written much later, everything about it harkens back to those magic days when mystery writing was new and full of unexplored nooks and crannies. The device that the plot turned on was fiendish, but part of me wants to quibble about the mechanics – specifically the speed which everything happened, but that’s just pickiness – the buildings could have been further apart, the people slower, or the water faster than I’m imagining them.

None of that matters anyway, it didn’t detract a bit from my enjoyment of the book. The only thing that ticked me off is the same thing that’s been ticking me off about historic literature since Bronte and Austen: the affectation of using O– instead of just putting the damn village/town/city name in. Just seeing “the –shire” makes me itch in irritation, and the liberal use of it in this book had the same effect. I don’t care why they did it, it’s irritating.

I borrowed this from the library, and I have to say, I enjoyed it enough that I’ll be looking for my own copy to add to my personal collection. I’m sort of curious, too, to read the next one, which my library happens to have as well.

I needed a Locked Room Mystery for my Halloween Bingo 2022 card and this is the perfect fit. It also works for Death in Translation, Home is Where the Hurt is, and Country House Mystery.

Devouring Darkness (Heirs of Chicagoland, #4)

Devouring Darkness
by Chloe Neill
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780593102640
Series: Heirs of Chicagoland #4
Publication Date: September 20, 2022
Pages: 308
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Berkley

As the only vampire ever born, and the daughter of two very powerful Chicago vampires, Elisa Sullivan knew her life was going to be…unusual. But she wanted to make her own way in the world, preferably away from her famous family. Then supernatural politics—and perhaps a bit of destiny—intervened, and Elisa had to steady her nerves and sharpen her steel to fight for the city of Chicago. Luckily, Connor Keene, son of the North American Central Pack’s Apex wolf, is right by her side.

When Elisa and her Ombudsman colleagues agree to escort a vulnerable supernatural to Chicago, they inadvertently set in motion a scheme of long-awaited magical vengeance. The city may pay an arcane price it can’t afford unless Elisa and her allies rise to the challenge.

I always have a lot of fun reading Chloe Neil’s books. Yep, they’re (relatively) nice vampires and shifters, and the dialog is witty as hell (although not as on-fire as the original series). In these books vampires being vampires isn’t really the important part; solving the mysteries and doing with with the cooperation of friends and allies is. These books are heavy on friendships, solid plotting, and some light romance as a side-gig.

This fourth one felt a bit sharper than the first 3, as if Neil finally got into the groove with this new cast of characters and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The end has an epilogue that’s not a cliffhanger, but a definite lead up to a new threat, and it still annoyed me because it will be at least a year before it’ll be out.

I didn’t read this for Halloween Bingo because I don’t have any squares I can use for it, but I reserve the right to shoe-horn it in if I need to.

The Fleur de Sel Murders (Brittany Mystery, #3)

The Fleur de Sel Murders
by Jean-Luc Bannalec
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781250308375
Series: Brittany Mystery #3
Publication Date: March 26, 2019
Pages: 321
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books

The old salt farmers have always said that the violet scent of the Fleur de Sel at harvest time on the salt marshes of the Guérande Peninsula has been known to cause hallucinations. Commissaire Dupin also starts to believe this when he’s attacked out of the blue in the salt works.

He had actually been looking forward to escaping his endless paperwork and taking a trip to the “white country” between the raging Atlantic Ocean and idyllic rivers. But when he starts snooping around mysterious barrels on behalf of Lilou Breval, a journalist friend, he finds himself unexpectedly under attack. The offender remains a mystery, and a short time later, Breval disappears without a trace. It is thanks to his secretary Nolwenn and the ambition of the prefect that Dupin is assigned to the case. But he won’t be working alone because Sylvaine Rose is the investigator responsible for the department—and she lives up to her name….

What’s going on in the salt works? Dupin and Rose search feverishly for clues and stumble upon false alibis, massive conflicts of interest, personal feuds—and ancient Breton legends.

If Bannalec hadn’t been able to hack it as a mystery author, he’d have had a great career in tourism; he sells me on Brittany every time I read one of his books. Brittany springs to life off the page.

This can also be a hinderance; too much of it bogs the story down and there are spots of too much in this book. The start, where he’s setting the scene in the salt gardens, almost killed the story’s momentum before it could ever get started. I mean, yeah, it was beautiful and descriptive, but it dragged. I deducted 1/2 star for the moments like this that happened throughout the book.

Once the story got going though, and the bodies started dropping, the pace picked up dramatically, so that by the end it was as edge-of-your-seat as traditional mysteries get. I like Dupin, too, although he comes across a bit off-foot in this one, as I think he’s meant to, as he has to work with a female detective that’s as take charge as he is.

There are at least 5 more books in this series to look forward to, and it’s a series I think I’d eventually like to own. They’re not the binging kind, but quite enjoyable once or twice a year – especially if you’re in the mood for a mental holiday-on-the-page.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022’s Death in Translation square. Originally written in German and translated into English. It could also work for Terror in a Small Town, and, of course, Genre: Mystery.