Meandering Through January

Prism Cloud by Jeff Wheeler is #4 in The Harbinger series and continues the adventures of Cettie and Sera as war once again breaks out between Kingfountain and Muirwood.  There is a bit of role reversal as Sera becomes more confident in her abilities and Cettie allows herself to become caught up in the schemes of the mother she never knew.  While Sera's transformation seemed logical, Cettie's switch of loyalties didn't ring true for me.  Will see how this twist develops in the next installment.  

I'm liking Sera's adventures much better than Cettie's at this point.

Read in December; review scheduled ---

NetGalley/47 North

Fantasy.  March 5, 2019.  Print length:  332 pages.

The Vanishing Man is another prequel to the Charles Lennox mysteries.  In 1853, Charles is a youthful 26 trying to establish himself in his new profession.  He isn't even sure how to describe himself--investigator, detective?  What he enjoys is solving puzzles.


When the Duke of Dorset approaches him about a missing painting, Charles is eager for an endorsement from an important individual.  However, as the investigation continues, the Duke turns contrary.  What is the secret behind the missing painting and the more valuable one that was left behind?

Read in Oct.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Historical Mystery.  Feb. 19, 2019.  Print length:  304 pages.

Perfect Remains by Helen Fields is the first in the DI Callenach series.  DI Luc Callenach is new to Edinburgh via Interpol and a past he would rather not discuss.  

Luc's father was Scottish, his mother French, but after his father's death, Luc's mother returned to France where he was raised.  He is not particularly warmly received in his new position and doesn't make things easier on himself.  DI Ava Turner--down-to-earth, practical, and warm--makes an offer of friendship that Luc gradually accepts and feels comfortable with.  Both characters are interesting and well-drawn.

Luc is immediately drawn into the case ofElaine Buxton, a respected lawyer, who has been abducted.  When a body with forensic evidence appearing to identify Elaine is found, the search for a missing person changes to a homicide investigation.  But Elaine is not dead.  This is revealed almost immediately to the reader, although the investigators continue to believe her dead and hunt for the killer.

Then another respected and intelligent woman disappears.  The reader is aware of what is going on, but Luc and Ava and various team members are in the dark.  It is easy to get wrapped up in this narrative, but I could have wished for less emphasis on the sadistic violence.  

In this first in a series featuring Callenach and Turner, the author introduces other characters who will play roles in future books.  (I read Perfect Prey, the second in the series in 2017, and felt about the same: liked the characters and and elements of the plot, but too much emphasis on the gruesome.)

Read in December.  

Purchased.
Crime/Detective Fiction.  2017.  Print length:  417 pages.
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Most Talked About Crime Fiction-- I've read The Paragon Hotel, Scrublands, The Burglar, The Last of the Stanfields, and The Boy, but there are 20 titles on the list.  Have you read any on the list?