Saturday, December 31, 2016

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

A Study in Scarlet Women
Charlotte Holmes was an odd child and becomes even more unconventional as a grown woman, as a scarlet woman, tarnished according to Victorian decorum. Fortunately, her nonconformity hides a brilliant mind, one she uses to survive and thrive. When some of her family is suspected in the murders of several prominent members of Victorian society, Charlotte determines to solve the crimes and prove her loved ones innocent, but first she needs to take on an assumed name to protect her identity and to have her skills as a genius puzzle-solver taken seriously by the police and the world at large. What could be more natural than Sherlock?

The first in the "Lady Sherlock" series, A Study in Scarlet Women, is a complex mystery with multiple deaths, multiple motives, and multiple suspects. While Thomas could have made her female Sherlock impervious to doubt and secure in her supreme intellect, Charlotte Holmes is extremely vulnerable simply due to the time period and her gender, and it isn't without a great deal of luck and help from a few friends that she is able to succeed. An incredible start to a series, readers will come to love the flawed but intelligent heroine and will be eager to read more of Lady Sherlock's future adventures.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
The Wayfarer isn’t the most beautiful ship ever to roam the galaxy, but for Rosemary Harper, it’s now home. Rosemary isn’t a spacersomeone who lives primarily out in the open of the Galactic Commonsfar from it. In fact, she’s never even left her home planet before. But open space does seem to be the ideal place to escape her troubled past, so she accepts a job aboard the Wayfarer. The ship has a truly motley crew, both human and alien, and life aboard tends toward the chaotic. When the captain decides to take a lucrative commission building a wormhole on the other side of the galaxy for a strange and largely unknown race, things get downright dangerous and Rosemary must learn to trust her crew mates in order to survive.

Though this is Becky Chambers’ debut novel, her writing is masterful and already feels classic. The galaxy she has created feels lived-in and true, thanks largely in part to the care with which she crafts the many species that people it. An absolute must-read for sci-fi aficionados and fans of series like Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Even readers who have never picked up a science fiction title before will appreciate Chambers’ quirky characters and careful world-building.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Travelers Rest by Keith Lee Morris

Travelers Rest
The Addisons-Julia and Tonio, ten-year-old Dewey, and recovering alcoholic Uncle Robbie-are traveling east from Washington back to South Carolina over winter break. When a terrifying blizzard strikes outside the town of Good Night, Idaho, they seek refuge in the town at the Travelers Rest, a formerly opulent but now crumbling and eerie hotel where the physical laws of the universe are bent. Soon, the family is separated and they must fight to escape the building's alluring yet frightening pull.

With its slow burn pacing, readers are swept up into a time bending, haunted house story that is terrifying without any blood, but features a menace that is definitely not of this world. It is a story about familial love, memory, and identity that will make you think, but it is the creepy tone that will continue to haunt you after the final page. Travelers Rest is both a mind-altering meditation on the nature of consciousness and a heartbreaking story of a family on the brink of survival.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham

The Wedding Girl
This is a big week for Milly. On Saturday, she is going to get married. Her mother has been furiously making the final preparations, and her sister is about ready to fly in for the big day. There is just one little problem. Milly is already married. None of her family or friends know about it. It happened years ago and was just a favor for a college friend, so to her, it shouldn’t even count. In fact, shortly after the wedding, she lost touch with "her husband." The event was so inconsequential to her that she hasn’t even told her fiance, Simon, about it. Unfortunately, when she meets her wedding photographer, she comes face to face with someone from her past. He was there the day she got married all those years ago, and he could potentially give away her secret. How is she going to dig herself out of this situation?

Madeleine Wickham has written a light, breezy novel that is sure to please readers of Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, Lauren Weisberger, and Jennifer Weiner.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

A Perilous Undertaking
While working on cataloging an earl's vast collection of artifacts and curiosities, Veronica Speedwell, lepidopterist by profession, is approached by royalty to exonerate a fellow aristocrat accused of murdering an artist, and he will hang if the true culprit is not found. Veronica recruits her partner in crime, Stoker, to investigate, and the two insert themselves into the Bohemian artist community of Victorian London. Everyone has an ulterior motive, and secrets abound as nearly all of the artists are hiding affairs and love interests.

Veronica remains as plucky and boldly independent in this installment as in A Curious Beginning, the first of the "Veronica Speedwell" series, while Stoker is just as mercurial. Raybourn carefully doles out a bit more back story for both Veronica and Stoker and even introduces Stoker's brothers into the mix. The sexual tension between the two has abated a bit from the first book, but almost as if to make up for this, the rest of the story is focused around clandestine trysts, adultery, and orgies. Readers who enjoy humorous historical mysteries with a naughty side will greatly enjoy Raybourn's latest. Although there is some introduction to Veronica and Stoker here, those new to the series may want to start with A Curious Beginning. The scheduled release date for A Perilous Undertaking is January 10, 2017.