The Archive of the Forgotten (Hell’s Library, #2)

The Archive of the Forgotten
by A.J. Hackwith
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781984806390
Series: Hell's Library #2
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Pages: 352
Genre: Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

Not as good as the first book for me. The first book was all about the creation of the team: Claire, Brevity, Hero and eventually, Ramiel. The librarian, the muse, the character, and the angel. There was a common enemy and books had spirit and fought. It was a good time.

This book is about pitting the team against each other and the books are silent, non-participants, except when a character or two throws some spite at Claire, who is now the Archivist of the Arcane after being ousted by Hell as Librarian of the Unwritten Wing. There’s also a tiny soupçon of insta-romance that’s completely unnecessary, extraneous to the plot entirely, and feels like it was done to make a statement rather than add anything to the story, as opposed to the small soupçon of romance that was central to the plot of the first book.

All in all, a lot less fun and more of a chore. A chore willingly done because all the fantastic love of books and stories is still here. The magic of books is still here; it’s just the characters that lost their magic this time around. I suppose I could say the division amongst friends in this book reminds me too much of the division amongst friends and family in real life that’s occurring everywhere, and that would be true, but really, I just don’t like to read about friends fighting.

I love the atmosphere of the book and the magic of the library and the arcane wing. I love the log entries at the start of each chapter, even if I don’t always agree with their philosophy or theology. I like the characters, and I’d like to love them and perhaps with the next book, or the one after that, I will, assuming I’ll want to read it when the time comes. But if the author is sharing a sliver of her soul with readers in this series, I can’t help but worry from hints here and there within the stories so far, that that sliver of soul has an axe to grind and I’m not looking to be a whetstone for my books, no matter how much I love their premise and their magic. So, 3.5 stars and a ‘we’ll see’.

I read this for 2021 Halloween Bingo. I originally had the Psych square, but Flipped/traded with Moonlight Reader (All the Vintage Ladies) for her Highway to Hell square, for which this is in all the ways perfect.

The Alchemist’s Illusion

The Alchemist's Illusion
by Gigi Pandian
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780738753010
Series: Accidental Alchemist #4
Publication Date: February 1, 2019
Pages: 329
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

I read this book while I read two other supernatural books at the same time, and now my thoughts are all muddled. But for the most part it’s a slightly better than average cozy paranormal mystery.

Zoe’s an alchemist that accidentally stumbled on the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life centuries ago and has been hiding her true nature ever since. Her best friend is a gargoyle that received the elixir of life from someone practicing backward alchemy a hundred years ago who got by before meeting Zoe by being a French chef to the blind. There’s a lot to like in the premise of this book and series, if you like that sort of thing (and I do).

Zoe apprenticed under Nicholas Flamel and his wife, both of whom disappeared centuries ago and were presumed dead, but Zoe had begun having suspicions when she stumbled across a painting of the two of them – something she knew they never allowed.

What follows would be a great story if not for Zoe’s over-riding angst colouring the whole story. Constant worrying about being found out; her other best friend being railroaded for a crime he didn’t commit because of his race; her gargoyle being discovered; her boyfriend not believing her. The list is sort of exhaustive, and reading about it is exhaustive. Beyond that is a really interesting story about hiding in plain sight, and the corruption of desire in a life lived too long.

This book culminates in a few secrets being revealed, so I can only hope the next book will be a lot less angsty and a lot more pure fun.

I read this book for 2021 Halloween Bingo’s Genre: Mystery square. Underneath all the gargoyles and alchemists, there’s a murder mystery to be solved.

It’s September 1st! Halloween Bingo 2021 has officially begun!

For those of us who eagerly anticipate Halloween Bingo each year, it’s that most special day – the official kickoff! For those who don’t participate: apologies – the next 60 days might be a tad tedious.

I hate WordPress almost as much as I hate GoodReads, but I got my card to work almost 100%. I simply had to let go of all that silly mathematical nonsense and make my sticker images bigger than the card itself. So I’m back to using a mystery image – this year’s is far edgier than most might expect from me, but given the days we live in, it fit my mood.

If I’ve read it, the sticker is semi-transparent over the square; once the square has been called, it will go fully opaque. I’m assuming the WordPress Reader app will break these posts and make it look like a dog’s breakfast, but I can’t fight WP on two fronts without going stark raving.

Accumulative reading table with links to reviews below the card.

The spreadsheet:

	Bingo Square	Date Called	Book Title	Date Read
Row #1
	Mad Scientists and Evil Geniuses		Naked Brunch	Aug. 30
	Stone Cold Horror/Creepy Carnival		Wild Ride	Sep. 1
	Vintage Mystery
	Dem Bones
	Read by Candlelight/Flashlight
Row #2
	Murder Most Foul
	Lethal Games		No Nest for the Wicket	Sep. 1
	Spellbound		The Once and Future Witches	Aug. 31
	Black Cat
	Relics and Curiosities
Row #3
	Shifters		Naked Brunch	Aug. 30
	Terror in a Small Town
	FREE SPACE
	Psych / Highway to Hell
	Truly Terrifying
Row #4
	Noir
	Genre: Mystery
	Country House Mystery
	Tropical Terror
	Locked Room Mystery
Row #5
	Splatter
	Cryptozoologist
	Plague and Disease
	In the Dark, Dark Woods
	Gallows Humor

Wild Ride

Wild Ride
by Bob Mayer, Jennifer Crusie
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780312533779
Publication Date: March 15, 2010
Pages: 351
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

This was the last book Jennifer Crusie wrote that I hadn’t yet read (except for the Temptation books; I started Welcome to Temptation and something turned me off and I never finished it). It’s a co-wriiten book with Bob Meyer, and their previous effort Agnes and the Hitman is one of my all time favourite good-time reads.

But I avoided this one for years because I’m not a fan of carnivals and amusement parks as story settings. Stephen King might have ruined this for me, but there’s just something WAY too creepy and seedy about them in books. Nevertheless, I had bought this and after years of languishing in a forgotten corner of the TBR, I found it just in time for Halloween Bingo, and the setting was perfect.

Mary Alice (Mab) is just finishing up a massive restoration of an early 1920’s amusement park, putting on one of the last touches, when she’s attacked by a giant iron clown that calls her by name. The owners of the park seen unsurprised, though they pass it off as a hallucination. Soon, however, there’s no escaping the truth: the park is the prison for 5 untouchable demons (all from the Etruscan mythology, it seems) and two have escaped. It’s up to Mab and her fellow Guardia to re-capture them and keep the other three from escaping.

Believe me when I say there is nothing deep or philosophical about this book. It’s pure silliness and funnel cake fun. It’s not nearly as well plotted or written as Agnes and the Hitman, but it’s well written enough that it kept me reading and the eye rolling only happened a few times.

I doubt I’ll ever re-read this again, though it did make me want to climb that ladder to grab Agnes for a re-read.

I read this for Halloween Bingo 2021. It’s a perfect fit for the Creepy Carnivals square, which is really my Stone Cold Horror square – I used my Transfiguration Spell card, as it’s chock full of demons (including minions that possess teddy bears and characters ripped completely from Small World) and it takes place entirely within the grounds of the Fun Fun Amusement Park.

No Nest for the Wicket re-read

No Nest for the Wicket
by Donna Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780312329402
Series: Meg Langslow #7
Publication Date: August 8, 2006
Pages: 259
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur

I read this when it first came out back in 2008-ish, and my first review can be found here.

I love Donna Andrews, but for some reason haven’t re-read the non-Christmas ones in ages, if ever. It was a little bit strange going back this far, as Meg and Michael aren’t married yet, the twins are not yet a glint in their eye, and Meg’s family has yet to transition from Yorktown to Caerphilly. But the eXtreme croquet tournament that is at the heart of this mystery is hilarious – extra wickets for hitting the balls between the legs of the cows and the sheep! and the Morris Men Dancer team is certainly an interesting twist.

I’m going to say that the plot is not the primary reason to read this book. If you’re a follower of the series, the characters and the side plots are enough to keep the book entertaining. While the mystery itself was decent, Andrews gave an abundance of clues to the reader and then sprung an unexpected murderer on Meg and the rest of us. Not strictly fair play.

I read this for Halloween Bingo – for a square I dreaded: Lethal Games until Themis-Athena reminded me of the Meg Langslow series’ multiple games-focused plots. Thanks TA for making this square a lot less stressful. 🙂

Halloween Bingo 2021, the card. A reminder of how much I hate WordPress.

Gah – building these in WordPress sucks sooooo hard. I wasn’t even trying to make anything fancy this year, just stick the card into a table, ready to mark the squares off as they’re played, but nooooo, WP has to think it knows better than you do what you want, and worse, shows it looking so neat and spiffy in your edit window, and then, when you click “preview”, you can see it really looks like a dog’s breakfast.

Anyway, it’s done. Nothing fancy and I’ve yet to figure out what I’m going to mark the spaces with – nothing’s catching my fancy, and whatever it is has to be EASY. I’m considering just a big X, but I can’t bring myself to be that dull.

Silverhill

Silverhill
by Phyllis A. Whitney
Rating: ★★★★
Publication Date: May 1, 1969
Pages: 192
Genre: Suspense
Publisher: Fawcett Crest

From the day Malinda Rice first comes to Silverhill -- her mother's home -- her hope turns to fear. But she will not run. For the beauty of Silverhill's setting hides more than one family's secrets. And Malinda must fight for both her sanity and her life before she discovers the full, horrifying truth about the past evil and present terrors that may engulf her....

One of Whitney’s earlier publications, this one still has the intricate plotting and surprises that are missing in her later titles. Conversely, it’s one of the less evocatively atmospheric of hers I’ve read so far.

The thing a reader has to accept about Whitney is that her whole raison d’être in writing was to thrust heroines into the most unwelcome home she could imagine and have her persevere in spite of all stumbling blocks. It’s formulaic, definitely, but each of her earlier novels becomes unique in the setting, the secrets and the mystery.

Silverhill absolutely fits the Whitney formula, and it made me a bit impatient at the start as all the usual hurdles, cruelty and heartache were presented along with the future insta-love (these books were written in the 50’s and 60’s when apparently if it took you longer than 48 hours to decide you’d met your One True Love, you might as well not bother).

But one all of that was gotten through, the story was a surprise. I thought I knew where it was going, and I was sort of right, but the salient detail of the whole thing blindsided me when it was revealed. So much karma getting doled out to everyone. And, of course, a happy ending for our heroine.

When a good Whitney comes along, they are a pure indulgence to a much more innocent, yet horrific, form of story telling for readers who like their suspense served in tandem with romance, and a touch of gothic for garnish.

Halloween Bingo 2020: October 24th update

I’ve sort of fallen off the Bingo bandwagon the last couple of weeks; pushed off the back, really, as life has gotten exciting in that dryly ironic kind of way. Drastic improvements in Covid infection rates has meant a lifting of restrictions (Yay!) and a return to working on-site for me (Boo!) and it’s been exhaustingly busy. Then earlier this week, MT got stung by a bee and it was The Bee; the one that pushed his immune system too far and he went into anaphylactic shock, requiring an ambulance, a hospital stay, and a new constant companion in his life, the epipen. After all that, we woke up to find our beloved Eggy – the last of our first chickens – had died overnight. At that point I opted out of coping for a day or two.

Luckily none of this has put me in a reading slump; I’ve been churning through both new books and re-reads. Unfortunately, none of them are useful to my remaining Bingo squares. I have one more Wild Card I can use (Patricia Briggs) so I’ll likely use that on one of the remaining squares I’m struggling to find a read for.

I’ve also, in my own absence, managed a few bingos (6, I think?), as previously read squares got called. So here’s how things stand right now:

Calls made so far that are on my card:

*Note: I’ve removed Psych in favour of Romantic Suspense, as it’s the square I flipped, and American Horror Story has been transfigured into Spellbound

How it works:

If I read a square that hasn’t been called yet, a ghost of stickers-yet-to-come will appear; once the square has been called, the sticker will become fully corporeal. (Alas, this only works in regular browsers, but I’m in too deep to try to do something different now.) As the squares get ticked off, a fully formed image will appear. Previously, I posted the finished image, but this year I’m going to leave it a mystery.

Below is the table that will summarise the books I’ve read for each square, and note if I took advantage of one of the Spell Pack cards, and which one. Book Titles link to my review of the book here.

	Bingo Square	Date Called	Book Title	Date Read
Row #1
X	Gothic	Sept. 23	The Red Lamp	Oct. 12
	Genre: Suspense
X	Ghost Stories	Oct. 17	The Sun Down Motel	Sept. 13
X	Dark Academia	Sept. 24	Murder 101	Sept. 2
	Southern Gothic	Sept. 15
Row #2
X	Darkest London	Oct. 11	Capital Crimes: London Mysteries	Oct. 6
X	Black Cat	Oct. 20	Murders and Metaphors	Oct. 8
X	Cozy Mystery	Oct. 9	The Falcon Always Wings Twice	Oct. 3
X	Genre: Mystery	Sept. 3	Quick Study	Sept. 5
X	International Women of Mystery	Sept. 7	The Betel Nut Tree Mystery	Sept. 10
Row #3
X	Grave or Graveyard	Sept. 14	Grave Witch	Oct. 16
X	Deadlands	Sept. 29	Staked	Sept. 29
X	FREE SPACE	n/a	The Leper of St. Giles	Oct. 9
X	In the Dark, Dark Woods	Sept. 13	Imaginary Numbers	Sept. 12
X	Psych / Romantic Suspense	Sept. 6	Turquoise Mask	Oct. 2
Row #4
X	American Horror Story/Spellbound	Oct. 13	Ink & Sigil	Sept. 17
X	A Grimm Tale	Oct. 7	Burn Bright	Sept. 27
	It was a Dark and Stormy Night		Murder by Death	Oct. 6
X	Monsters	Sept. 18	Half-off Ragnorok	Sept. 25
	Trick or Treat	Sept. 16
Row #5
X	Country House Mystery	Oct. 5	Murder at the Manor	Oct. 8
X	13	Sept. 1	The Thirteen Problems	Sept. 6
X	Locked Room Mystery	Oct. 6	Big Book of Locked Room Mysteries	Oct. 4
X	Halloween	Oct. 15	Sympathy for the Devil	Oct. 4
X	Murder Most Foul	Sept. 5	Extracurricular Activities	Sept. 3

The Spell Pack cards are below – I’ve used a border in the same color as the card to mark the squares where I’ve used one.

Cards used:
Bingo Flip: Lillelara has agreed to trade my Psych square for her Romantic Suspense square.

Transfiguration Spell: Used to transform American Horror Story into Spellbound

Grave Witch

Grave Witch
by Kalayna Price
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451463807
Series: Alex Craft #1
Publication Date: October 5, 2010
Pages: 325
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC Fantasy

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she's on good terms with Death himself, nothing has prepared her for her latest case. When she's raising a "shade" involved in a high profile murder, it attacks her, and then someone makes an attempt on her life.

Someone really doesn't want her to know what the dead have to say, and she'll have to work with mysterious homicide detective Falin Andrews to figure out why....

A re-read for me, as I needed a Grave/Graveyard book for Halloween bingo and I just wasn’t in the mood for the Ray Bradbury I had lined up.

Overall, the book holds up well, though the love triangle is a definite drag on what would have otherwise been a fantastic series. Price writes great characters and does an excellent job with world building and plotting; truly it’s the two men – both excellent specimens in their own right – vying for Alex that’s the only drawback. Not that I’m letting that stop me from re-reading the rest of the series in anticipation of the latest book coming out next month.

The Red Lamp

The Red Lamp
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Rating: ★★★★½
Publication Date: June 18, 2019
Pages: 289
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Penzler Publishing

William Porter has just inherited Twin Hollows, an isolated lakeside estate shrouded in mystery and doom. But William and his wife aren't easily swayed by ghost stories and whispered rumors. Until a shadowy apparition beckons to them from the undying glow of a red lamp. Is a stranger with a deadly purpose trying to frighten them away? Or are they being haunted by a chilling warning from the grave?

I knew this was a ghost story, of sorts, so I started it bright and early yesterday morning, and became so engrossed in the story that I almost, almost, finished it last night. leaving nothing but 3 of the last 4 conclusion chapters for me to read today.

Mary Roberts Rinehart was an excellent writer; that her genius has been so far forgotten today is a tragedy. The Red Lamp was originally written in 1925, and putting aside the lack of technology and the beautifully elegant writing that today might be considered a tad verbose, the story holds up perfectly; it would take very little to make this story ‘modern’.

The Red Lamp is complex to the point of labyrinthine though. Like the main character, I stumbled through the story in ignorance. Some of this was by design, as the mc is meant to be a spectator not an active participant in solving the crimes, but some of it was because there was just so much going on and that beautifully elegant writing of Rinehart’s made for easy camouflage of any clues.

The book is, with the exception of the introductory and final 4 chapters, purely epistemological, with no chapters, just journal entries. This style doesn’t always lend itself to a submersive experience for the reader, but these journal entries are detailed enough that it makes almost no difference from a first person narrative.

The ghostly part of the story, in spite of the enormous potential for scarring the spit out of me, were subdued enough that they never raised so much as a hair. This was a wee bit disappointing, I admit, but it didn’t adversely affect the story; they were never the point of the book, it was always about the mysterious killings and there was never doubt that those killings were done by a very corporeal being.

All in all, this was an excellent mystery. I’d recommend this to anyone curious about Golden Age Mysteries who might be hesitant fearing dry or dated story-telling. While not perfect, The Red Lamp is most assuredly neither dry nor dated.

I read this for the Gothic square on my Halloween Bingo 2020 card.