Guess who Mary Russell marries? Go on, guess! Nope, she marries Sherlock Holmes! And what a wonderful job this author does telling this tale. She crafts, for us, the background story of Mary, while keeping the personality of Holmes aligned during what would be an unlikely event for him. What a wonderful read!

At its heart, this is a police procedural. But the characters are so well explored within this context and the circumstances so bizarre, that the story, though bloody and twisted, is very interesting. If you like cop drama, you will definitely enjoy this one.

While I am not always a fan of his stories set in Scotland, I did enjoy this one. Isabel sets out to get a present for her husband for Valentine’s Day but in the process becomes entangled in a situation which looks like she will either need to renege on a promise or fail to help someone who is truly in need. But leave it to the philosopher in her to work out the right answer.

This is a compilation of short stories set in Africa. They involve, for the most part, issues between man and animal or animal and animal. They are interesting and fun but also have a larger message.

The trouble I had with this book is that I did it as an audiobook. There were just too many characters, and sometimes the characters were referred to differently depending upon who was speaking about them. Add to that the challenges of the language of 1826 and I was not able to enjoy the book or really follow what was going on.

This is a good old fashioned detective story where women were “dames” and were “notin but trouble”. The language is fun and the central character is the grounding influence here as everyone else in the story is either crazy or a killer…..and one is both.

Let me first say that this was a really good book and I definitely recommend it. BUT I read a lot of read a lot of Stephen King and books like this, and I am good at suspending disbelief so that I can fully enjoy the story. And I don’t want to give anything away, but who, or actually what, the author chose to be the evil overriding force in this story was something I could just not buy into. And once I found that out, it took a little bit of the enjoyment of the book sway from me.

I would classify this as a cozy Mystery, although there isn’t much of a mystery here, except to the main character. Still, I enjoyed the book, and I continue to enjoy the “Maid Mystery” series. In this Christmas tale Molly, the maid and central character begins to think that her boyfriend and love of her life Juan Manuel may be cheating on her. But her inability to see situations the way others do makes her the only one surprised when he surprises her with the very best gift.

A great book

A very emotional book about family, reminding us that no family is perfect. I loved every character and empathized with them through their pain and heartache. A powerful debut, can't wait to read more from this author.