Tag: Spoiler-Free

Review – A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder

May 7, 2026

Rachel

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Review – A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder

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A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder

by Dianne Freeman

Series: Countess of Harleigh Mystery, #1
Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Pages: 281
Get from: Library | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
My Rating: ★★★★☆

In this exciting historical mystery debut set in Victorian England, a wealthy young widow encounters the pleasures—and scandalous pitfalls—of a London social season . . .

Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, enjoys more freedom as a widow than she did as a wife. With her young daughter in tow, Frances rents a home in Belgravia and prepares to welcome her sister, Lily, arriving from New York—for her first London season.

But no sooner has Frances begun her new life than the Metropolitan police receive an anonymous letter implicating Frances in her husband’s death. Frances assures Inspector Delaney of her innocence, but she’s also keen to keep him from learning the scandalous circumstances of Reggie’s demise. As fate would have it, her dashing new neighbor, George Hazelton, is one of only two other people aware of the full story.

While busy with social engagements on Lily’s behalf, and worrying if Reggie really was murdered, Frances rallies her wits, a circle of gossips, and the ever-chivalrous Mr. Hazelton to uncover the truth. A killer is in their midst and Frances must unmask the villain before Lily’s season—and their lives—come to a most unseemly end . . .

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Review – A Change of Jane’s Personal Philosophy

April 23, 2026

Rachel

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Review – A Change of Jane’s Personal Philosophy

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A Change of Jane’s Personal Philosophy

by Shana Granderson

Series: The Change Of Series, #4
Genres: Historical Romance, Literary Fiction
Release Date: December 15, 2025
Pages: 415
Get from: Amazon
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

In this, the 4th instalment of the ‘Change Of’ series, the story examines what changes will arise and effect the lives of the characters we love, and some we love to hate, if Jane wakes up and begins to see the reality of the world.

This tale begins with Jane in London seeking to renew her contact with Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley. Up until this point, everything has gone according to canon.

At the same time Jane is with the Gardiners, Elizabeth makes her visit to Hunsford. Yes, she receives the terrible proposal, but there is one small difference which the reader discovers when part of Darcy’s letter is revealed.

Not only do we learn why Jane adopted the philosophy she did, but what is it that forces Jane to re-evaluate her view of the world and the way she reacts to it.

Once she has begun to have her epiphanies, and the realisation that she must make some changes, how does that change her perspective on her family, the Bingleys, Darcy, and Wickham, to mention a few? What will she do when she understands who are and are not her true friends? Will her love for Charles Bingley endure?

These, and many other questions are answered while we join Jane as she wakes up after 23 years.

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Review – Legends & Lattes

April 9, 2026

Rachel

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Review – Legends & Lattes

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Legends & Lattes

by Travis Baldree

Series: Legends & Lattes
Genres: Cozy Fantasy, LGBTQIA+
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Pages: 296
Get from: Library | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Books | Kobo
My Rating: ★★★★☆

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

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Review – The Queens of Crime

April 2, 2026

Rachel

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Review – The Queens of Crime

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The Queens of Crime

by Marie Benedict

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Pages: 310
Get from: Library | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
My Rating: ★★★★☆

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

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Review – The Portrait

February 19, 2026

Rachel

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Review – The Portrait

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The Portrait

by Emilia Kelly

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Pages: 308
Get from: Library | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Every work of art tells a story. And every story has its secrets.

London, 1850. Iris Sheffield has plenty of people to worry about in her life: Hope, the ailing younger sister for whom Iris feels responsible. Winston, Iris’s fiancé, who is consumed with his work. And James, the handsome but arrogant artist painting Iris’s portrait, with whom she is forced to spend countless, awkward hours.

But when Iris finds the diary and photograph of a mysterious young woman, she can’t stop wondering who the woman is and what has become of her. The more questions Iris asks, the more she suspects someone does not want her to discover the answers.

Exploring themes of sisterly bonds, familial obligations, and the lengths we go to for those we love, The Portrait illustrates the surprising and frightening ways a work of art can tell a story.

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