Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars Series: Lady Hardcastle Mysteries #10 Publication Date: 9/5/23 Period: 1912 – Littleton Cotterell, Gloucestershire (United Kingdom) Number of Pages: 332 Oh! I do love this series! Lady Emily Hardcastle and her lady’s maid Florence Armstrong are former spies who have retired to the country – but cannot help themselves when a mystery or murder presents itself in the area. They just have to help. Their witty banter is very entertaining and will keep you smiling, if not laughing out loud, throughout the book. While they take their investigations very seriously, they ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars Series: Lily Adler Mystery Publication Date: 9/19/23 Period: Regency Number of Pages: 320 Pages – (Audiobook 10 Hrs 49 Mins) Narrator: Henrietta Meire First, the narration. I thoroughly enjoyed this narrator’s mellow, pleasant voice and delivery. There was enough emotion in the delivery to give you all of the ‘feels’ – happiness, fear, tension, etc. It was nicely paced and the narrator was successful in delivering a unique voice for each character most of the time. However, when there were several characters in a scene with each taking a speaking part, there ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5 Stars Series: Stephanie Plum #29 Publication Date: 11/1/22 Period: Contemporary – Trenton, New Jersey Number of Pages: 336 (Audiobook) What can I say about another Stephanie Plum book? While they are very formulaic and you pretty much know what is going to happen from scene to scene, they are also witty and entertaining. Just perfect for those times when you need a pick-me-up. The mystery in this book was a bit different than usual because you have absolutely no idea who the villain is. There is just this voice over the phone threatening and demanding the return of a ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars Series: DCI Ryan Mystery #15 Publication Date: 12/23/19 Period: Contemporary Northumberland Number of Pages: 158 Brrr! DCI Ryan, DS Phillips, Dr. Anna Taylor (Ryan’s wife), and DI McKenzie (Phillips’ wife) have traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy a rare day off during the Christmas season. On their return, there is a huge snowstorm and they find the A1 highway is closed to through traffic and they must take a detour. With near-whiteout conditions, it is all but impossible to see and follow the detour signs. Just as the last drop of gas passes through the engine and th ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars Series: DCI Ryan Mystery #5 Publication Date: 1/30/17 Period: Contemporary Northumberland Number of Pages: 265 Oh! What an exciting, thrilling, fast-paced story! I started reading this series with the 16th book, and I loved it so much that I’m now reading those first 15 books that I missed. For me, it isn’t a problem to read them out of order because each book has a stand-alone mystery. While there is a core cast of characters whose growth and relationships develop incrementally throughout the series, it tickles me to already where they are heading. There is a na ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Series: Countess of Harleigh Mystery #1 Publication Date: 6/28/18 Period: Victorian – 1899 London Number of Pages: 290 I started this series by reading the 3rd book first – because that is the one I had. I enjoyed it so much that I continued and read each subsequent book in the series as it came out. I’ve enjoyed all of them so much that I decided to go back and read the first two books in the series. I wondered if I would enjoy the first two less because I already knew where things were headed. Well, the answer is – it actually enhanced my enjoyment because of the an ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 3.4 of 5 Stars Series: Standalone Publication Date: 1/1/19 Period: Regency Number of Pages: Audiobook (10 Hours) – Narrator Laura Kirman I enjoyed the story, but I can tell you – if this had been the first book I read by this author, I probably wouldn’t have sought others. It isn’t that it wasn’t a nice mystery, it is that the heroine is TSTL. She makes some of the most convoluted, impulsive decisions, and those put others at risk as well. I love strong, resilient, independent heroines – but they also need to make intelligent, thoughtful, deliberative decisions rather than ac ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 3.6 of 5 Stars Series: Standalone Publication Date: 7/1/19 Period: Regency Number of Pages: Audiobook (10 Hours) – Narrator Laura Kirman Rebecca Hunter and her brother Jacob became wards of Mr. Lewis Browning upon their father’s death. For me, the time between the death of their father and the start of this book is ambiguous and I’m left with questions. For instance – was Browning just an unconcerned, uninvolved guardian? I wonder because Rebecca was living with an aunt in their old townhome, which seems a good choice, but – it seems her brother was running wild. While I wond ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars Series: Saffron Everleigh #1 Publication Date: 6/7/22 Period: George V / Interwar Period (London) Number of Pages: Audiobook – Narrator Jodie Harris Woohoo! I think I have discovered a new must-read historical mystery author. This is her debut novel and I can honestly say it is better written, better plotted, and has character development that is right up there with the stars of this genre. I can’t believe I almost passed it by because the period is a bit later than I normally prefer. Whew! So glad I didn’t. Being a romantic at heart, I must have a romance in my ..read more

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars Series: FBI Thriller #14 Publication Date: 6/15/2010 Period: Contemporary Number of Pages: 482 I thought I had read all of the books in this series, but I found I’d missed this one. How did I do that? At the moment, the series is up to book #26. So, of course, I immediately had to read the book I’d missed. It was nice to see that the author used Savich’s sixth sense in this book because she’d gotten away from that in the later books. I didn’t realize I’d missed it until it made an appearance. I must mention that I love this series, but you should be prepared (as ..read more