The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman

From the publisher: London 1815. Though newly-widowed Lily Adler is returning to a society that frowns on independent women, she is determined to create a meaningful life for herself even without a husband. She's no stranger to the glittering world of London's upper crust. At a ball thrown by her oldest friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she doesn't expect is the dead body in Lady Walter's garden.

Katharine Schellman’s The Body in the Garden is a fun, well-researched cozy mystery set during the Regency era. Main character Lily loved her husband, who left her a young widow. His family convinces her to return to London, hoping she’ll remarry. She is grieving and unsure how to live the rest of her life, reluctant to rejoin the ton. Her husband’s oldest friend, a naval captain, is in London while his ship is repaired, and he naturally becomes her escort and ally.

The author’s note makes the connection between the story and historical facts. She believably adds two people of color to the story – an heiress from the West Indies and the naval captain, who has an Indian mother. The story isn’t original – the helpful street urchins, the gruff but sincere policeman, the members of the upper crust solving a mystery – but the author brings freshness to her telling. There are hints of romance to come in a sequel. The Body in the Garden would make a terrific movie – someone should snap it up in this day of Bridgerton on TV.

The Galesburg Public Library owns The Body in the Garden as a book, an ebook, and a downloadable audiobook.

The Vanishing at Loxby Manor by Abigail Wilson

 Do you love a good gothic mystery with a touch of romance? You may enjoy books by Abigail Wilson. Her newest, The Vanishing at Loxby Manor, is due out in January 2021. It features Charity Halliwell, a young woman whose family has left England for America during the Regency era. She has gone to stay with long-time family friends – a family that includes Piers, the man she loved and lost.

Charity has secrets. Piers has secrets. His brother, sister, mother, and father have secrets. Everyone in this book has secrets. My primary criticism of this book is that it reads a bit like an exercise in writing a gothic mystery, with loaded phrases and descriptions, and people saying and doing cryptic things instead of fessing up so that the truth can be known. At times I could almost hear the “dun dun dun” noise in the background. For example:

“A door slammed somewhere in the distance, and Loxby’s old walls seemed to groan in response. Muffled footsteps resonated through the twisting corridors of the ground floor, and then an unexpected silence took hold.” (p. 22 of the advance reader copy)

Some of the plot twists are a little contrived. Some of the characters are a little flat. But still this book is a lot of fun and a nice diversion in troubled times. The book has no sex or language and minimal violence. It is not particularly religious.

I read an advance reader copy of The Vanishing at Loxby Manor from Netgalley. The Galesburg Public Library will own The Vanishing at Loxby Manor in multiple formats when it is published.

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

WHY hasn’t this book been made into a movie? It’s hilarious with a cast of characters actors would love to sink their teeth into.

If you love Jane Austen, you’ve probably discovered Georgette Heyer. Her Regency novels are well researched and a lot of fun. This one was a little slow starting, but once I got past the overly long set up I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our timid hero His Grace the Duke of Sale was a sickly child born early to a mother who died in childbirth. As his father was already dead, he was a duke from the day he was born. He has been cossetted and bullied by his hovering relatives and servants his entire life. The only person who knows there is more to Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware (aka Gilly) than meets the eye is his cousin Gideon. When another cousin finds himself in a scrape, Gilly disguises himself, escapes his retinue, and sets off on an adventure to solve the problem and learn about himself.

Some of the great characters in this novel include our undersized hero, his oversized cousin, his well meaning but bullying uncle, the charming villain of the piece, the dim beauty who will go off with any kind man who promises to buy her a purple dress, the wild teenager Gilly rescues on the road, and Gilly’s shy intended Harriet.

If you enjoy well written, true to the times Regency fiction and have not yet discovered Georgette Heyer, check her out! And somebody please make The Foundling into a movie!

The Galesburg Public Library has The Foundling as a book and an ebook available through Overdrive/Libby.

This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman

From the publisher: Introducing the Bow Street Bachelors—men who work undercover for London’s first official police force—and the women they serve to protect. . .and wed?

An enjoyable first in a historical romance series from Kate Bateman. The initial premise is a bit far-fetched – a rich heiress chooses to wed a prisoner to escape from her greedy lecherous cousin – but the relationship between beautiful and feisty Georgiana and gorgeous undercover ex-soldier Benedict is sweet and satisfying. I also liked the humor in the side characters of Georgiana’s sister and her besotted poet suitor.

One thing I did not like was the spoiler title. Benedict is not an earl until the last chapter (I don’t consider that a spoiler from me since it is in the title!). He is the second son of an earl and brother to the impoverished current earl, and I spent the whole book wondering if his brother was going to die so he could become earl. There surely were dozens of alternate titles that could have been used. Not sure why publishers think every historical romance must have earl, duke, viscount, or marquess in the title.

I read an advance reader copy of This Earl of Mine. It will be published in late October and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library.

Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose

From the publisher: A wealthy lord who happens to be a brilliant scientist . . . an enigmatic young widow who secretly pens satirical cartoons . . . a violent killing disguised as a robbery . . . Nothing is as it seems in Regency London, especially when the Earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane join forces to solve a shocking murder.

Murder at Half-Moon Gate is the second book in a mystery series set in Regency England. It reminded me of the earliest (and best) books in Anne Perry’s William Monk and Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery series.

Lord Wrexford is a more sympathetic version of Sherlock Holmes – analytical and distant but willing to lay down his life for those in his small circle of friends. Mrs. Sloane is a woman with secrets who draws scathing political cartoons under a man’s pseudonym and has taken two street urchins into her home. Wrexford and Sloane solve their second mystery in this book and are clearly headed for a romance, as each struggles to hide feelings they don’t particularly want but can’t deny.

I’m not an expert in this era, but the historical details felt real to me as a reader. I found the minutiae about steam engines a bit tedious, but otherwise the characters, plot, and dialog were highly enjoyable. I will definitely be going back to read book one, Murder on Black Swan Lane. I recommend this series for lovers of Anne Perry and other historical mystery series.

I read an advance reader copy of Murder at Half-Moon Gate. It is scheduled to be published at the end of March. It and Murder on Black Swan Lane will be available at the Galesburg Public Library in print and as ebooks.

Death Comes to the Fair by Catherine Lloyd

Do you love a good mix of mystery and Regency romance? Then Catherine Lloyd’s Kurland St. Mary mystery series could be for you. 

Major Robert Kurland was seriously injured at Waterloo. Miss Lucy Harrington, a childhood friend, is the daughter of the widowed rector. They live in the charming village of Kurland St. Mary, solve mysteries together, and enjoy a spirited relationship. The fourth book in the series, Death Comes to the Fair, comes out in a few weeks, but the Galesburg Public Library already owns the other books in print and electronic format. The first book in the series is Death Comes to the Village.

I thought book three slipped a bit in quality, but book four was as good as the first two. Major Kurland and Lucy spend a lot of time alone in this one, and there is much worried concern from the rector about her reputation and need for a chaperone. But they always find a way to investigate together.

I read an advance reader copy of Death Comes to the Fair; it will be available at the library in late November.

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

The premise of this novel is preposterous, but if you can get past the implausibility, as I did, you might enjoy it.

Kendra Donovan is a present day, tough FBI agent. After a mission goes horribly bad, she goes rogue and takes off for England to exact revenge on one of the men to blame. While taking part in a reenactment dressed as a 19th century maid, she escapes into a secret passageway in an old English manor. Something happens, and she emerges in the same manor in the 19th century.

She plays the part of a Lady's maid at a manor house party while trying to figure out what has happened to her. She is absolutely hopeless, of course, and very American to boot. (That is used as an excuse for almost everything she does wrong.) Then a woman is found murdered, and her FBI training kicks in.

As I said at the beginning, it's preposterous to think that upper class English men of the 19th century would allow a woman, a servant no less, to investigate a murder, interview her betters, and watch post mortem exams. But the writer did a good enough job convincing me to play along that I quite enjoyed it.

There were some plot twists I did not see coming, and the interactions between the modern day American woman and the 19th century English men were a hoot. Kendra is a strong female lead who foolishly allows herself to get trapped in  a dangerous situation but gets out of it without any help from a man.

If you like mysteries, Regency romance, historical fiction, time travel, strong female leads, or some combination, you might want to read A Murder in Time.

A Murder in Time is the current Big Library Read through the Alliance Digital Media Library, the Galesburg Public Library's download service from Overdrive. Borrow and download the book now through July 7 with your Galesburg Public Library card here:
http://alliance.lib.overdrive.com/

Lord Fenton's Folly by Josi S. Kilpack

Shadow Mountain Publishing has a line of books called Proper Romance. They are clean romantic reads without sex, violence, and bad language. I've read quite a few Proper Romances and find the line a welcome addition to the world of romance novels.

The newest is Lord Fenton's Folly by Josi S. Kilpack, which has a gorgeous cover. I really enjoyed A Heart Revealed, Kilpack's previous Proper Romance, which concerned a woman during the Regency period suffering from profound hair loss (and which the Galesburg Public Library has in the adult Fiction section).

Lord Fenton's Folly also addresses an issue of the times - what to do with a child with mental impairment - but it's a minor sideplot this time around. Lord Fenton does not respect his father and tried to embarrass him by playing the foppish fool and adopting macaroni fashion. His father, fed up with the behavior, lays down some ultimatums that Fenton must agree to or be disinherited. One of the conditions is that Fenton must marry. On his mother's advice, he proposed to Alice, a young woman he knew as a child. She has had a crush on him for ten years and thinks he feels the same. She is angered and hurt when she finds out otherwise.

They marry all the same, and the novel watches them deal with personal crises, learn family secrets, and gradually come to rely on and love each other.

I did not enjoy Lord Fenton's Folly quite as much as A Heart Revealed. It was very slow moving, and I would have liked more character development during the long period in which the young married couple was estranged. Lord Fenton in his foppish persona annoyed me as much as he annoyed his father. There are frequent references to witty banter, and yet there isn't much witty banter in the dialog. I was definitely ready for the "falling in love" stage of the marriage before it finally happened.

Still, I am happy to have this category of romance to recommend to readers who want a clean love story, to lovers of Regency romances, and to Jane Austen fans. I read a digital copy of Lord Fenton's Folly. It will be published on October 6 and will be available in the new adult Fiction section of the Galesburg Public Library.

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

The debut fantasy Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho surprised and delighted me. It is set in our own world, in the time of Napoleon. It reminded me a bit of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series (without the Dragon Corps). There is a border between the human world and Fairy, from which great sorcerers in the past have been able to call familiars.

The two main characters are both people of color. Zacharias Wythe is now the Sorcerer Royal, an unlikely occupation for an African former slave. His mentor Sir Stephen purchased him when he was a child, noting a potential for magic. (Sir Stephen did not, however, see fit to purchase his parents at the same time.) There is much prejudice against and distrust of Zacharias because of the color of his skin and his background. Unfounded rumors that Zacharias murdered his mentor are spread. Several times while reading Sorcerer to the Crown I thought of Barack Obama and the prejudice and persistent rumors he has faced as President of the United States.

Prunella Gentlemen is the daughter of an English gentlemen and an unknown mother from India. She has been helping Mrs. Daubney run a magic school for girls. The point of the school is, of course, to keep the girls from using magic, since everyone knows girls are not fit to use magic. Prunella, however, is especially magical, and Mrs. Daubney hasn’t mind when Prunella used her magic to benefit the school. But when an unfortunate incident embarrasses Mrs. Daubney, she orders Prunella to conduct herself in accordance with her station, to stop mixing with the young ladies at the school and to start taking her meals in the kitchen with the servants. 

Zacharias and Prunella must work together and learn to trust each other as they navigate perils and politics. I liked reading about two powerful people of color dealing with prejudice while the entitled people around them are clueless as to how insulting their attitudes are. The author did a good job of world building. I enjoyed the historical fiction aspect and didn’t mind the politics. Zacharias and Prunella are interesting and imperfect, and some plot twists took me by surprise. There is romance, but it is subtle and charming.

The writing in the first part of the book seemed much more mature and polished than the chapters toward the end. Maybe the author rewrote the first chapters of the book more times, or an editor spent more time on them. I wasn’t exactly disappointed in the ending but did feel the quality of the writing dropped off a bit. Still, I recommend Sorcerer to the Crown to fans of historical and adventure based fantasy.

I read an advance reader copy of Sorcerer to the Crown. It is scheduled to be published on September 1, 2015. It will be available in the Galesburg Public Library's new fiction area and as an ebook.

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter

The Midnight Queen is the first book in Sylvia Izzo Hunter’s Noctis Magicae series. It is set in the past in an alternate version of our own universe. Maps in the front of the book show Merlin College at Oxford and the Kingdoms of Britain, Eire, and Alba.

Told in the third person, the two main characters are Gray, a student at Oxford, and Sophie, the daughter of an Oxford professor. Gray is coerced into participating in a shady outing that results in another student’s death. Although Gray is not at fault, he is blamed and whisked away to the professor’s country home in Breizh (the alternate universe’s version of France). There he meets Sophie.

Oxford is a school of magic, and Gray has many magical talents, including the ability to turn into an owl. Sophie does not appear to have any magic (and women are not scholars, in any event), but things are not as they seem, with Sophie’s magic and other circumstances.

Gray is plain and awkward; Sophie is so inconsequential as to blend into the background whenever the professor is around. Gray and Sophie find themselves caught up in intrigue involving a plot against the King of England as a sweet attraction grows between them.

There is nothing particularly original about the magical world or the romance, but the plot took some unexpected turns and the key characters are well developed. Sophie eventually grows into the standard, all powerful “chosen one” of a sort, but she is likeable. Interesting side characters flesh out the story into more than just a teen romance.

There are some plot holes and I found some of the narrative confusing. (Sophie is clearly the oldest child in the Professor’s household but it took me awhile to figure this out as her sister Amelia is described more than once as her “elder” sister.) But I got thoroughly caught up in this book and will definitely read the sequels. Recommended for anyone who likes a good historical fantasy.

The Midnight Queen can be found at the Galesburg Public Library in the adult fiction area under the author’s last name, Hunter. The second book in the series, The Lady of Magick, is due out in September 2015. 

Claire by Ellie Macdonald

Series: The Governess Club #1
Genres: Historical Romance, Adult

Release Date: September 3rd, 2013
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Source: eBook from Library

Add on Goodreads

Claire Bannister just wants to be a good teacher so that she and the other ladies of the Governess Club can make enough money to leave their jobs and start their own school in the country. But when the new sinfully handsome and utterly distracting tutor arrives, Claire finds herself caught up in a whirlwind romance that could change the course of her future.

Jacob Knightly has a secret. He is actually the notorious Earl of Rimmel. He's just posing as a tutor to escape his reputation in the city. He never expected to fall in love with the kind and beautiful governess. She is the first person to love him for himself and not his title.

But when Jacob's true identity is revealed, Claire realizes she has risked her reputation and her heart on a man she doesn't truly know. Will Jacob be able to convince her that the Wild Earl has been tamed and that she is the true countess of his heart?

This book, or more appropriately, this novella, didn’t have much going for it. It seemed very generic in terms of a historical romance but it wasn't enjoyable. I spent more time cringing than smiling at the silly antics of our characters.

Claire seems to have the basis for a strong female lead. She rarely wallows in self-pity, is confident and she doesn't let her circumstances bring her down too much. Yet at the same time she lets her employers walk over her and she doesn’t really ever stand for what she believes in. In fact, I am not even sure what she believes in. She seems to parrot Louisa’s ideas but that’s really about it.

But Claire wasn’t really my main problem with the book. Jacob was. I didn’t find Jacob swoon-worthy. He got jealous for no reason and thinks Claire is his to lay a claim on. He accuses her of purposefully avoiding dancing with him and the way he handled his jealousy was worrisome. He really needed to take a chill-pill. He never really seems to take into account that she isn’t a possession but a real human being. He says she is magic but it’s more about what she does for him than who she is or what he could in turn do for her.

Throw into that that their romance makes no sense what so ever. It comes out of nowhere. One day they don’t get along and Claire tells him he needs to stop acting like a spoiled brat and suddenly Jacob has an awakening and changes overnight (or over the course of a week) and then they are in love etc etc. How? When? Why? I get that this is a novella but I’ve read novellas where the romance is done well. Just because it’s a short story doesn’t excuse the need for development.

We know right off the bat that Jacob is hiding a secret and when the secret is revealed to Claire, she seems to react in a predictable way but that bothered me too because she over did it and chose not to listen to any of his explanations. I guess over the course of the book, I became more and more critical since there weren’t as many positive points to compensate for the little things that bothered me.

This novella also lacks a strong base.We get a very vague background story for Jacob and almost nothing for Claire. So they both are more like plot devices being used to produce a historical romance of (not so) epic proportions. 

The plot is non-existent. I get that this is historical romance, I read a lot of historical romance myself, but I find the conflict in this book lacking mostly because this novella is so centred on the romance that all the other (so called) conflicts take a back seat. 

This novella isn't a nightmare or anything, it's a nice quick read if you just want some good brain candy but don't go into this novella hoping to find your new favorite historical romance.

Death Comes to London by Catherine Lloyd

Death Comes to London is the second book in the Kurland St. Mary mystery series by Catherine Lloyd. The series is set during the Regency.  The second book isn’t quite as good as the first, Death Comes to the Village, but it was still an enjoyable book for me.

The growing romance between the independent Lucy Harrington, attempting to find her beautiful sister a husband during London’s season, and Major Robert Kurland, still recovering from a war wound and now being offered a baronetcy by the Prince Regent for his heroism, is slow but steady.  Some of the science seemed a little modern for the time, but on the whole the historical details seemed true. The mystery is a bit over the top, with too many plot details and too many deaths, but the book was still an entertaining and diverting read.

I recommend the series to cozy mystery and fans and lovers of Regency novels. The Galesburg Public Library owns both books in the series.

Regency Charade by Margaret Mayhew

Regency Charade is a short (182 page) "Romance of the Regent's England" published in 1986. Definitely not as good as the best of Georgette Heyer, but entertaining enough. Miss Katherine Spencer lives in Kielder, the crumbling family castle, with her younger brother - only 9 years old but the next baronet. The previous baronet, their other brother, a gambler and a wastrel, died recently in a careless accident while racing.

Katherine discovers to her horror that he gambled away Kielder before he died. "Mr. Drew" arrives determined to take possession, despite the many tricks Katherine tries to drive him away (stopping up the chimney, breaking windows, etc.). Mr. Drew has a secret or two, which Katherine eventually discovers, and it all comes out right in the end.

The best scene was the one in which a bedraggled Katherine presented herself to the house she had reason to believe was Mr. Drew's and ended up having an interesting conversation with an earl.

If you are a fan of Jane Austen and Regency romances and are looking for new authors, you might check out Margaret Mayhew. The Galesburg Public Library has two Regency romances by her; the other is called Quadrille. They can be found in the adult fiction section under the author's last name, Mayhew.

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer

I love Georgette Heyer's books and was disappointed in The Black Moth at first, as it lacks her usual sparkle. However, before I finished it I found out it is the first book she wrote, when she was only 15, which is a different matter altogether. There are too many main characters, and the plot takes a long time to really get going, but there are glimpses of the fine author she would become.

If you like Georgette Heyer and would find it interesting to examine her first book, I recommend it. Otherwise, I recommend you pick up one of her other regency romances.