Our House by Louise Candlish

Our House. Louise Candlish. Penguin Publishing Group. August 2018. 416 pp. ISBN#: 9780451489111.

Fiona and Bram have been living a “charmed life” up to now in contemporary England.  They own a gorgeous home in the “posh” section of London, slightly above their means but nothing to worry about.  Now, Fiona and Bram decide to separate; they will each live in their home during the week and the other one will stay in a rented apartment.  It takes some adjustment but they handle it with the best possible equanimity, mainly by just forging ahead and never getting around to talking about it all.  Then one day Fiona arrives home to discover it’s not her home anymore.  First, she thinks it’s a terrible joke but then there is intense shock, made much worse that Bram cannot be reached by phone or by any of his peers/friends. 

The premise behind this mysterious mystery is not one most readers will easily relate to but suffice to say that Bram’s very poor in choosing options.  What also might be amusing to some but comes across as somewhat incredible is that both start seeing other men and women but these experiences are low-key and hardly satisfying beyond the first infatuation flush.  The story is told from two narrative viewpoints.

The story behind their forced separation is tragic, to say the least.  One wonders how one would have handled a similar situation.  Of course, there are always evil characters quick to appear and make the most out of the incredible opportunity. 

Our House is listed as a thriller per the unending tension behind Bram who is constantly being afraid he will be arrested and therefore contemplating suicide and being threatened by the many involved in the plot against him.  That gets old because it is repeated so often and starts to seem like “Cry, Wolf.”

The other problem with this storyline is that the characters are somewhat stereotypical, remaining undeveloped and truly unchanging in spite of the disasters happening around and to them.

This is a nice summer read that some will enjoy as a unique mystery with a little bit of suspect romance in between the conflict. 

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding: Her Royal Spyness #12 by Rhys Bowen

Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding: Her Royal Spyness #12 by Rhys Bowen. Penguin Publishing Group. Copyright August 2018.; pb. 304 pp.; ISBN: 9780425283523.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is soon to marry her love Darcy.  Georgie is a cousin to the Queen but has agreed to forfeit her royalty in marrying a commoner, which she doesn’t mind one whit. 

Weddings are in the air it seems!  Her mother is going to marry a German (not so wise in pre-WWII climate of 1935), her grandfather is planning on marrying his neighbor and Darcy’s father is planning on marrying a princess of England.  Now she’s going to stay at the home of her mother’s ex-husband.  Wedding plans are getting complex since Queen Mary wishes to attend and wants many royal persons there as well.  That will all come together but what Georgie finds in Sir Hubert Anstruther’s country home is far from normal and is quite mysterious!

The home is covered in dust but worse is the butler, maid, and cook with nasty attitudes.  They refuse to take Georgie’s requests or even orders unless Sir Hubert Anstruther approves them.  It also seems the help has been “cooking the books,” helping themselves to a mite extra for their loyal service (or lack of is more like it).

No spoilers – suffice to say that a resident madwoman, someone turning on the gas taps in Georgie’s room, etc. and then a dead body pose significant risks to Georgie and her Mum, Grandad and maid/cook Queenie.  One knows the mystery will be solved but it’s the process of discovering the crooks/would-be killers and killers that’s done in a light-hearted, fun manner. 

Darcy is occasionally present so the romance side is just a snippet here and there.  Of course, although no one specifies what Darcy does for a living, it’s clear he’s a spy or something distinctly related to that profession.

Enjoy Four Funerals and a Wedding, a highly enjoyable royal mystery!

(Advanced Reader copy provided courtesy of Penguin Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.)

Misfortune of Time: Druid's Brooch Series #6 by Christy Nicholas

Misfortune of Time: Druid’s Brooch Series #6. Christy Nicholas. Tirgearr Publishing. Copyright July 2018. pb. 2322 KB.; ASIN: B07D447G4Y.

This sixth story of the Druid Brooch Series is multi-layered and told in several parts.  Etain is very, very old thanks to the magic in the brooch she was given by another gifted one.  She’s living in the 11^th Century and has the ability to orient her magic to making her appear to be aging.  The reality is she’s over 100 years old but has the abilities of someone younger than thirty years old.  For now, she’s got bigger problems.  Her present husband, Airtre, is a Christian priest who treats Etain deplorably, abusing her physically at every opportunity. Other neighbors, monks and priests (marriage is as yet not forbidden but that law is coming to hold in the Church as Christianity spreads in Ireland) try to shelter her from Airtre’s wrath but even her magic is powerless against his rages.  Things are about to change!

When Etain is attacked by a mad neighbor, he swears Etain will be burnt to death because of her magic.  Since no one knows about this secret, Etain tries to get away from him but he won’t let go. Airtre comes to the scene and beats the man to death but is accused of murder.  A full trial ensues.  Etain desperately wants to become a bishop in the church but this matter frees him of guilt but taints him.  When others are consoling Etain, her husband goes mad and wants to kill her. Etain is forced, like many previous times, to escape.

Her next phase of existence is in the world of the Fae, sprites and fairies who possess a great deal of magic but who cannot abide in the human world.  Read for yourself the wondrous environment, the dynamic fierce and kind characters, and what Etain learns while being temporarily kept safe in this land.

When she returns to the world of mortals, the first thing she wants to do is find her grandson to whom she wishes to pass on the magic she received as taught by the Fae.  More conflicts ensue, and her grandson must be taught to trust his grandmother.  No spoilers here but an exciting unfolding of trust and release of suspicion.

This is a wonderful series, ready for anyone open enough to love magic, the world of healing herbs and spices, good food and drink, the joys of those who worship in the Old Ways, and on, and on and on!  Delightful reading – a fantasy story well-crafted and told! Highly recommended!

The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C. W. Gortner

The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna.  C. W. Gortner. Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine. July 2018. 464 pp.  ISBN#: 9780425286166.

“We existed in a dream, enclosed in our lacquered splendor like the varnished miniatures of our fabled Easter eggs, even as the world beyond our gates began to crumble.”  The world of Maria (Minnie) Feodorovna begins as a child, then known as Dagmar of Denmark, living in a simple world that dramatically changes as her father becomes the King of Denmark.  Maria is grateful for the closeness of her family in the coming years when her sister Alix becomes Queen of England and others marry to other rulers or royalty.  Maria marries Sasha or Alexander, Prince of Russia, then becoming part of the four hundred-year-old Romanov dynasty as the Empress of this great nation.

Maria’s early years in Russia are full of dancing, fine dining, and the gentle love of her Sasha, gruff but gentle, fiercely devoted to his autocratic role as Emperor of all of Russia.  He gives Minnie the first of the Faberge eggs that unfold with multiple layers of grand, gorgeous jewels, special editions not available to the public.  The current climate, however, is not kind to the Romanovs.  By the time that Alexander realizes that autocratic rule is tearing his nation apart with poverty and civil war, it is too late.  Rather than implement the change of a Parliament or Duma, he tragically dies and Nicholas, their eldest son, refuses to authorize his father’s will, a position he insists on upholding as the nation begins to unravel.  The influence of the Dowager Empress waxes but quickly wanes with the competing influence of Nicholas’s wife, the Empress Alexandra.

Maria is wise beyond her years but cannot control the family scandals as her children, nieces and nephews begin to ignore custom and tradition.  The strong-willed, austere Alexandra embraces the peasant monk, Rasputin, who appears to be responsible for repeated healing of the son of Nicholas and Alexandra.

Royalty and high society couples dance the nights away, wearing the finest couture encrusted with luxurious jewels, vacationing with each other in a style that resonates with a reminder of “Nero fiddling while Rome burned.” However, the reader shares in Maria’s growing sadness and shock as familial and national events culminate in disaster.

Words cannot convey the depth of this comprehensive depiction of both the Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Romanov family.  It is truly a brilliant story, replete with virtues and vices, fierce loves and hates, glamor and scandals.  This reader hated for this amazing, well-crafted novel to come to an end. Read it once, twice – know this is a classic work of historical fiction, soon to be named among the “best” accounts of the Romanov family in its final days!

Eagle and Crane: A Novel by Suzanne Rindell

Eagle and Crane: A Novel. Suzanne Rindell. Penguin Publishing Group. July 2018. 448 pp. ISBN#: 9780399184291.

Haruto (Harry) Yamada and Louis Thorn grew up side by side on California farmlands.  At one time their lands had been joined and owned by the Thorn family.  But to Louis’ father and brothers’ lifelong chagrin, the father had gambled too much in a drunken stupor one night and lost the most valuable west side of his property to the Yamada family.  Not a good loser, he bore a grudge against the Yamadas that grew with the telling into fantastic hate and determination to get back at them for “tricking” the Thorn family out of their property.

When we meet Harry and Louis, they have spent years apart and are now barely on speaking terms, sad because they had been childhood companions and friends for a long time, until Louis heard enough of the conflict to turn him against the “Jap” Harry.  Now they are to slowly become united as they are snagged into flying “barnstorming” and daredevil deed exhibitions planned by Earl, a con man who originally sold a “cure all tonic.”  Ava and her mother Chloe work for Earl and Ava becomes a new source of contention between Harry and Louis.  Later on, that romantic triangle becomes the focus of a mystery.

WWII arrives with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the flight business (which is vividly described quite enjoyably) collapses as all Japanese and Japanese-Americans are interned in camps for the duration of the war.  The mystery begins when Harry and someone else in his family escape the camp and supposedly take up one of the bi-planes and crash it spectacularly with no seeming effort to save themselves.  Murder? Suicide?  It’s up to the local sheriff and FBI Agent Bonner to figure that one out! 

The plot and character presentations are intriguing and keep a perfect pace and pitch for any reader to follow.  Uncertainty is the prevalent motif of this romance/mystery novel so that the reader feels like he or she is the investigator and/or chronicler of this work of historical fiction.  This is a unique perspective of the way WWII changed the lives and attitudes of Americans toward foreigners forever!  Something to reflect on in these trying days of similar conflicts!

Trial on Mount Koya: A Hiro Hattori Novel by Susan Spann

Trial on Mount Koya: A Hiro Hattori Novel by Susan Spann. Prometheus Books. Copyright July 2018.; pb. 256 pp.; ISBN: 9781633884151.

November 1565.  The nation of Japan is divided as daimyos vie for victory over each other for the position of Shogun.  Oba Nobunaga has spies everywhere and Samurai Hiro Hattori is traveling with his friend, Portuguese priest Father Mateo, to Shingon Buddhist Temple on Mount Koya.  His mission is to deliver a message to an agent from Hiro’s home town of Iga.  However, Ringa the agent never gets to deliver any message as he is murdered that same day. So begin a series of murders that Hiro and Father Mateo are asked to solve. 

All the reader knows is that the first four deaths, as they gradually occur on different days, are unusual.  The victim of each monk is posed as one of the Buddhist Judges of the dead in the afterlife, a judgment that progresses over a period of time.  The description of each Judge and the way the victims are posed in death is fearful and awesome!

The reader gets to focus on two different areas in this mystery story.  One focuses on elements of Shingon Buddhism, one of many sects of Buddhism, and one which obviously has political connections, a common aspect of 16^th Century Buddhism. The other is the divided nature of the resident monks of Mount Koya.  Some have samurai backgrounds, some poor backgrounds, some thwarted ambitions, some holding unresolved issues and all who try to maintain a life of prayer and meditation when outside matters are not encroaching on their peaceful way of existence.  They also hold a prideful sense of arrogance in stating multiple times that the depth of Shingon Buddhism is beyond Hiro and Father Mateo’s miniscule understanding.

One might hope no further deaths will ensue but that is not the case.  The reader expects Hiro and Father Mateo to solve the mystery of so many deaths and how he does that makes the remainder of the novel fascinating and exciting.  There are some interesting and even humorous scenes involving some woman monks and a child who is a bit of a mystery as well as the adults in the novel. 

Susan Spann is a highly skilled writer who knows exactly where to place tension, complexity, simplicity, levity and seriousness in a very successful work of historical mystery fiction!

Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence

Grey Sister. Mark Lawrence. Penguin Publishing Group. April 2018. 432 pp. ISBN#: 9781101988886.

Grey Sister reads as a stand-alone novel although you will enjoy it more if you read its prequel, Red Sister.  Intense is the word that most describes the character and plot development in both novels but more so in Grey Sister.  Nona Grey is at the stage of her convent (No, not like any convent experience you’ve read about or experienced!) experience where she must choose to permanently become a member of the Martial Sisters (red), the Sisters of Discretion (grey), the Mystic Sisters (blue) or the Brides of the Ancestor (black).  Nona is still trying to figure out in which place she fits.  She has extraordinary physical abilities, enhanced by her experiences on the Path which are fueled by her phenomenally rage when inspired by some wrongdoing experienced directly or indirectly.  So great is her fury that the power that emanates from her can take down concrete walls and buildings!  It’s hard to believe there are other Sisters with as intense powers, but there are!

Nona’s quest in this novel of the series is to figure out the secrets of the Universe and who controls them. This is a world of ice and cold moons that are controlled by devices, one of which has been stolen.  While the quest continues to find that device, Nona continues to study shadow-making, potions for poisoning, thread-weaving, sword battle and physical battle.  She certainly has become better in each one, but the challenges she most pays attention to are that of silent meditation and a type of balance walking that is almost impossible to complete in one attempt.

Who is trying to control Nona or even kill her?  Her old nemesis is dead but after that event a spark of evil named Keot (almost like an animal spirit) is now inside Nona and often contradicts what Nona decides but is an ever-present advisor.

Action abounds throughout this novel, rising and falling with death-defying conflicts.  The Noi-Guin are a series of warriors who want Nona dead.  The other nuns in training are one minute fully helping Nona and then threatening her very existence.  A secret lies in the deepest recesses of ice-cold caves below the convent, a place in which they are forbidden to enter.

The ending of this particular novel is quite spectacular.  Readers who love mystery, rocking adventure, various levels of the fantastic, physical and mystical battles, etc will love this series beyond description!  Although sometimes the end goal is unclear, it still has enough clues to satisfy any reader sharp enough to capture them when they appear.  Nicely crafted, Mark Lawrence! Looking forward to third novel in this intriguing series!