Blood and Moonlight

Blood and Moonlight
by Erin Beaty
Rating: ★★★★
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Pages: 442
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Farrar Straus and Giroux

Rising above the city of Collis is the holy Sanctum. And watching over its spires is Catrin, an orphan girl with unique skills―for she alone can spot the building’s flaws in construction before they turn deadly.

But when Catrin witnesses a murderer escaping the scene of his crime, she’s pulled into a dangerous chain of events where the only certainty is that the killer will strike again. Assigned to investigate is the mysterious and brilliant Simon, whose insights into the mind of a predator are frighteningly accurate.

As the grisly crimes continue, Catrin finds herself caught between killer and detective while hiding her own secret―a supernatural sight granted by the moon, destined to make her an outcast, and the only thing that might save her and those she loves from becoming the next victims...

Thanks to Whisky in the Jar for putting this book on my radar. I finished it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The characters make this a YA murder mystery with a side of romance, but the plot has some dark and disturbing elements that are touched upon (sexual violence/incest) that put it at the older end of YA. The setting is supposed to be, I think, medieval, but it worked better for me to imagine it as an alternate reality, thereby making anachronisms less anachronistic. This was easy to do as the city/country names have little to no similarity to real ones, and the religious system is based entirely on the sun and moon.

Mental illness is a very prominent theme in the story and though I have no first, or even second-hand experience with it myself, the inclusion in the story didn’t feel disrespectful or heavy-handed. The moon magic was interesting and felt like a fresh take on magic systems; the mystery plotting was a little clunky, possibly over-complicated, but overall it kept the story moving along.

In general, I thought it was a good read and if the author were to make a series out of it (could easily go either way) I’d read the next one happily.

The Study of Secrets (Lila Maclean Academic Mystery, #5)

The Study of Secrets
by Cynthia Kuhn
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781635116151
Series: Lila Maclean Academic Mystery #5
Publication Date: May 1, 2020
Pages: 225
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Henery Press

There could be nowhere more fitting for English professor Lila Maclean to spend her sabbatical than the whimsical Callahan House with its enchanting towers, cozy nooks, and charming library. Unfortunately, it also features a body in the study. The murder on the estate sets the town buzzing. Wild rumors are fueled by a gossipy blogger who delights in speculation, and further crimes only intensify the whispers and suspicions. A newly discovered manuscript, however, appears to expose startling facts beneath the fictions. When Lila steps in to sort the truth from the lies, it may cost her everything, as someone wants to make dead certain that their secrets stay hidden.

This series started out strong, as a great cozy without the cutesy vibe, with strong writing and clever mysteries. I think, though, with number 5, I’m done. The author broke one of my personal cardinal rules by creating character relationships and dynamics that I like, and then breaking them up and shuffling them about, and then doing it in a manner that was clumsy and awkward.

The mystery plotting was complex enough, but tried to be too clever, so that by the end it felt like a Ginsu knife commercial: But wait! There’s More!. Had the author – or the editor – pared it down just a bit, it might have offered a more suspenseful ending.

It wasn’t a bad mystery, or story; it just wasn’t great and certainly didn’t match the caliber of the earlier books. While it might be a blip, the relationship shuffle has left me uninterested in finding out.

I read this because it showed up in my mail but it fits Amateur Sleuth, Cozy Mystery and Home for the Horrordays as it takes place in the days preceding, and including Christmas. So I’m using it for Home for the Horrordays.

The Cartographers

The Cartographers
by Peng Shepherd
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780062910691
Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Pages: 391
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow

What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.
But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence...because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

I need to get this part out of the way first: this is a great story, well written, with great characters. It started slow for me, but once the momentum kicked in, it didn’t let up. I love how the author did multiple POVs without actually doing multiple POVs (well, there are two legitimate POVs, but the other’s were tucked seamlessly into the narrative). The story is what I’d call a variation on the scavenger hunt theme, centering on a seemingly cheap, pedestrian road map that’s really one-of-a-kind, and how it tore a group of friends that were as close as family apart, with a side helping of how obsessive love can corrupt. My biggest gripe is that, while the ending is hopeful and happy, it wasn’t really an ending to my mind; I wanted at least a little bit more explanation.

But beyond all of that, and I know this makes me a massive nerd, what I loved most was what was in the author’s note at the beginning, coupled with what was in the acknowledgments at the end. The story that emerges in these two is, to me, even better than the fictional story between, and no, I’m not sharing it; it would put a dent in the plot of the story, and might sap the joy of discovery from some other nerd out there that might find it as delightful as I do.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022, for the Relics and Curiosities square. I’m pretty sure it also fits Splatter, because a serial killer is involved.

Dream of Orchids

Dream of Orchids
by Phyllis A. Whitney
Rating: ★★
isbn: 9780385196017
Publication Date: August 23, 1985
Pages: 303
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Suspense
Publisher: Doubleday

When Marcus O'Neill came into Laurel's Long Island bookshop, she had no idea of the new road he would open for her. Only when Marcus picked up a copy of her father's latest novel did premonition strike her.

Clifton York had left her mother when Laurel was a small child, and she had never heard from him since. She had pretended she didn't care, but fed her own secret anger by reading his books, following his career, keeping old pain alive.

When Marcus explained that her father was his friend, that Cliff York had an urgent need for his eldest daughter, and that there might not be much time left for him, Laurel was forced to a decision.

The trip down the Florida Keys set the stage for all that awaited her in Key West's Old Town-intrigue that involved sunken treasure, modern piracy, and a burgeoning new love. She must deal not only with two surprising half sisters, still tied the glamorous mother who had died mysteriously a year before, but also with the strange and evil orchids that were to threaten Laurel and her new love, and eventually lead to nightmare.

I’ve enjoyed many, many Phyllis A. Whitney books – one of them would fall into one of those top-10 island lists (maybe), but this one was bad. This was one of her last books, and she wrote it when she was 81 – I’d like to say that’s an excuse, but I think I’ve read some of her later ones that were better than this.

Either way, the story was just terribly written. The flow was kludgy, the characters stiff, and the “romance” … I don’t even know where to start on the so-called romance. The man was indifferent, condescending to a degree that makes the average misogynist look like a libertine, and just all around an ass. The entire – and I mean the entire romance was conducted in three sentences on page 301. The whole thing read like a terrible satire of the 50’s that takes place in the 80’s.

What it did have going for it was the Key West setting, sunken treasure, and an accurately written sideline about orchid breeding. Whitney may not have had the flair for storytelling she once had, but she never slacked off on the research.

There are so many truly excellent Whitney books if one is looking for good romantic suspense. This is not one of them.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022 and used it for the Terror in the Tropics square. It could also be used for Romantic Suspense, or Fear the Drowning Deep though I recommend against it.

Other Birds

Other Birds
by Sarah Addison Allen
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250019868
Publication Date: August 30, 2022
Pages: 290
Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.

Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment on an island outside of Charleston she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a girl on the run, two estranged middle-aged sisters, a lonely chef, a legendary writer, and three ghosts. Each with their own story. Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn’t yet written.

Well, talk about author’s who try something different.

This is not the Sarah Addison Allen I know and adore. This is something more ambitious, edgier, with sharp, uncomfortable characters that survived sharp, uncomfortable experiences. Rather than 2 characters Allen bounces between, this is an ensemble cast, and every one of them are victims of abuse (TW for molestation, though never explicitly described) and neglect. None of them define themselves that way, but all are living the lives they live, in part, as a reaction to that abuse or neglect. Only one truly continues to suffer.

This is also almost more a ghost story than it is a magical realism. The magical realism is still here, though muted and without playing a central role in the characters’ lives. Instead, the ghosts that haunt the dellawisp condos are the driving force behind the characters, with one ghost in particular driving the plot of the book itself. The ghosts range from kind and loving to horribly broken.

In spite of what may sound like a melancholy, depressing setup, the story is actually quite optimistic and full of hope. These people aren’t damaged goods (save one of the characters and her part is a centre stage one, even though her story is pivotal); they’re all building their best lives, and after the death of a tyrannical neighbor, they come together as friends, some with the possibility of romance, although no romance occurs on these pages.

The dellawisp birds add a spot of comedy here and there, as these little tiny turquoise birds rule the roost at the dellawisp condos (named after them), bossing the residents around, stealing their stuff, attacking strangers, catching a ride on residents’ heads.

So, while this isn’t the kind of Sarah Addison Allen story I love so very much that re-reading them is like shrugging into a favourite blanket when it’s cold, it was a very good, well told, well-written story.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022 for the Magical Realism square, but it would work equally well for Ghosts & Hauntings.

The Book of Cold Cases

The Book of Cold Cases
by Simone St. James
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780440000211
Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Pages: 352
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley

Here’s the thing with me – and I can’t blame it on age, I’ve always been this way – when I read a book that resonates with me, of course I look for more by that author, but I want some of the same … template I got in the first story. I like the predictability; it’s relaxing to a degree (any why I enjoy a good series so much). So, when I pick up an author’s later books and they go and change it up, I did my heels in and become truculent.

With no other author has this been more true than with Simone St. James. I loved her first 5 books. They were spooky, don’t-read-at-night ghost stories set in the interwar period. Then came Broken Girls and I got my feathers so ruffled over the change to a dual timeline, present/past format that I’d decided I wasn’t going to read it. Nope. No way. Doesn’t matter how long that lasted, because of course I caved and read it. And I loved it. So I eagerly bought The Sun Down Motel and liked it too, and when the announcement came out for The Book of Cold Cases, I pre-ordered it. Only to find out that she’s messed with the format again.

The changes she made this time were more subtle. It’s still a dual, present/past timeline, but this go-around both the characters are still alive and they’re interacting, facing off in a weird frenemy sort of fashion – shades of Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. There are definitely ghosts and at least one is malevolent, and the spookiness kicks off immediately. (What is it about turning around to find all the cabinet doors open at once that is so creepy and spooky?) What’s most dramatically different though, it that although there is a definite resolution to the mystery the Lady Killer Murders, there isn’t an ending to the book that wraps everything up in a neat, tidy package, with everyone getting the emotional release they want.

So did I like it? Well, yes, after I got done sulking through the first several chapters. The ghost(s) were unsettling, and St. James took the mystery in all sorts of jagged directions; both the reader and the MC had to pry the facts of what happened out of the story and Beth (the past’s MC). I never knew what was happening until it happened, and the ending left me feeling unsettled, which I suppose is what a ghost story should do.

Did I like it as much as her previous books? No. It was good, but I still prefer the style of the first 5, and something about The Broken Girls felt edgier than this one, but I’m not sorry I read it or that I bought it. It’s a solid, well told ghost story with a straight forward mystery.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022 for the Ghosts & Hauntings square.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
by T. Kingfisher
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781614505242
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Pages: 309
Genre: Fiction, Middle Grade
Publisher: Argyll

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries...

This title flowed across my radar a while back, and I’ve seen a lot of other T. Kingfisher titles too, but this one is the title that kept standing out, so I thought I’d give it a go.

As the YA book it’s labelled as: meh. Maybe it’s me, but it isn’t all that dark and the voice is a bit juvenile for YA. I suspect my 13 year old niece wouldn’t have patience for it. But her younger sister, who’s 11, might love it. So as a middle grade level book, it’s probably not bad.

Mona was a bit whiney (again for the YA it’s labelled as), but I loved Bob the sourdough starter, and the gingerbread man. Neither of whom had any dialog, which might be a bit telling. But Kingfisher packs a lot of personality into these two without giving them a voice. The rest of the characters – the adults – all spoke to Mona as if she was 10 rather than the 14 she is, and yet she’s asked to save the kingdom single-handedly.

There is a very poignant scene at the end between a character named Molly Knacker and her skeleton horse; that scene stood out in what was on whole rather bland writing.

<img class=”alignleft wp-image-16083″ src=”https://www.secretreadingroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/monsters-300×300.jpg” alt=”” width=”110″ height=”110″ />I read this for Halloween Bingo 2022, although without any thought about what square it might fit. After some consideration, I’m going to use it for the Monsters square, and re-assign my original book, The Dark Place to Genre: Mystery. It would also fit Dem Bones, Gallows Humor, Genre: Supernatural, Spellbound, and Sword and Sorcery.

Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson, #13)

Soul Taken
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780440001614
Series: Mercy Thompson #13
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Pages: 389
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

The vampire Wulfe is missing. Since he’s deadly, possibly insane, and his current idea of “fun” is stalking me, some may see it as no great loss. But, warned that his disappearance might bring down the carefully constructed alliances that keep our pack safe, my mate and I must find Wulfe—and hope he’s still alive. As alive as a vampire can be, anyway.

But Wulfe isn’t the only one who has disappeared. And now there are bodies, too. Has the Harvester returned to the Tri-Cities, reaping souls with his cursed sickle? Or is he just a character from a B horror movie and our enemy is someone else?

The farther I follow Wulfe’s trail, the more twisted—and darker—the path becomes. I need to figure out what’s going on before the next body on the ground is mine.

My first read of HB bingo, done and dusted. I tore through this one in one day, which is easier to do when walking is still an iffy proposition; I have to do something while icing my leg.

The first chapter frustrated me, as Briggs put the reader in the same confusing space Mercy was in, but strung the confusion out just a little bit too long. Once past that though, the reader is treated to some answers to questions left open in the last Alpha/Omega series book, Wild Sign (if you don’t read this series it doesn’t matter in the least). This scene slowly segues into the main plot of the book, the disappearance of Wulfe, and secondarily, Stefan and Marsilia.

It was hard for me to move on from Sherwood’s intrigue, smallish though it was, and I was disappointed that he played little to no part in the main story, but the race to figure out why so many low-level magic users disappeared, and finding Wulfe and his connection to events was one of the better storylines, I think (probably because Briggs laid off on the black magic stuff). Wulfe’s story is rather convoluted, but I suspect Briggs has no intention of bringing clarity to his character. Even though the plot is about the vampires, the story itself is about the fae, and Zee gets a little more depth.

I’m rambling a bit. It was a good read. Not blow the doors off spectacular, but good.

I read this for the Urban Decay square in 2022’s Halloween Bingo. It also definitely fits Relics & Curiosities, Monsters and Splatter.

Ruby Fever (Hidden Legacies, #6)

Ruby Fever
by Ilona Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780062878397
Series: Hidden Legacy #6
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Pages: 384
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

An escaped spider, the unexpected arrival of an Imperial Russian Prince, the senseless assassination of a powerful figure, a shocking attack on the supposedly invincible Warden of Texas, Catalina’s boss... And it’s only Monday.

Within hours, the fate of Houston—not to mention the House of Baylor—now rests on Catalina, who will have to harness her powers as never before. But even with her fellow Prime and fiancé Alessandro Sagredo by her side, she may not be able to expose who’s responsible before all hell really breaks loose.

This arrived on Wednesday, and I tried, I really did, to hold out for Halloween Bingo. I made it 2 whole hours before I caved. I don’t think I’ll need it for HB, but if I do, I’m happy to re-read it.

I admit that of the two sets of characters in Hidden Legacies, I prefer Nevada and Connor, featured in the first 3. I think in part because there was less romance and more telekinesis; I think I prefer someone throwing huge things around to hand-to-hand combat and magic singing. Still, it’s the same family and it’s the family that pulls me in and makes me want to re-read, as much as the action.

A couple of random things: I was not surprised by the revelation of Caesar’s identity; I had that nailed after book 1. I was surprised at Andrews’ attempts to humanise Victoria, and the whole ‘we love you even though you’re terrible’. I did not buy that at all. I was also a little surprised by Grandpa, although I shouldn’t have been; I remember well Allessando’s muttered comment in the first Catalina book.

The story wraps up all the open threads, while definitely leaving a few openings for Arabella’s story, presumably in books 7-9, but I read something on the authors’ site about ‘now that we’re through with main-steam publishing’ that makes me wonder if Arabella will get her three books or not, and if so, if we’re going to have to wait years for the authors’ to get around to writing them. (I’m getting bitter about how long it’s taken to get Hugh’s second book, never mind Julie’s).

Bitch: on the female of the species

Bitch: On the Female of the Species
by Lucy Cooke
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781541674899
Publication Date: July 14, 2022
Pages: 369
Genre: Science
Publisher: Basic Books

Studying zoology made Lucy Cooke feel like a sad freak. Not because she loved spiders or would root around in animal feces: all her friends shared the same curious kinks. The problem was her sex. Being female meant she was, by nature, a loser.

Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones—dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted.

In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male. This isn‘t your grandfather’s evolutionary biology. It’s more inclusive, truer to life, and, simply, more fun.

Now this is what I was looking for when I read the page rage inducing Invisible Women, albeit a much more narrowly focused version. Lucy Cooke looks at the theory of evolution from the perspective of the female of the species. She had the anecdotes, she had the data, and she had the sources. She writes with humor but without the bitterness. I was both fascinated and frankly, often appalled, at what nature has done to the anatomy of some species’ females (I’m looking at, and cringing hard, at you laughing hyena). Lots of this got read out to MT, because I wasn’t going to suffer those visuals alone.

The book isn’t perfect; there were at least two instances of Post hoc ergo propter hoc early on in the book, and an overall logical fallacy in the premise, which is that because there are many examples throughout the natural world of non-binary (in terms of sex not gender) species, then therefore sexually binary systems do not exist. This is false. Mammals are sexually binary (NOT GENDER): one sex can give birth, and the other cannot. Mammals cannot naturally change their sex, as many non-vertebrates, fish, birds, and reptiles can. Mammals cannot naturally procreate via parthenogenesis (Bible aside), like some non-vertebrates, birds and reptiles (and amphibians) can. So arguing that we need to see the whole of nature as non-binary is misleading at best and scientifically inaccurate at worst. Moreover, the larger overall fallacy of the book is that arguing that we need to remove binary bias from biological research, is itself a binary argument (ie, the world is either binary or it’s not). Some species are sexually binary, and some aren’t. One size does not fit all.

My other complaint was more of a niggle: throughout the text, Cooke and the scientists she speaks with often emphasise that the practice of sex for non-reproductive purposes has been widely documented, which is factual as far as it goes, but of all the reasons hypothesised for this non-reproductive sex, every one of them were transactional, which to me isn’t any different than sex for reproduction purposes. It was disappointing that no one cited thought that perhaps it was just done for the fun of it.

My final niggle is that Evolution, or Darwinism, is a theory, not a law, and it feels like scientists conflate the two in their writing. A theory is meant to evolve as new discoveries are made and is therefore fluid – but this is, more often than not, my constant complaint whenever it comes to natural science writing.

It doesn’t sound like it, but I really did enjoy reading this book and I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in both science and the sexual bias in it.

*Note bene: at no point in my review did I intentionally touch on non-binary gender because gender issues are irrelevant to the nature of this book. For the record, a person should let their flag fly whatever that flag looks like but it’s none of my damn business and I don’t want anyone to try to make it my business.