Wednesday I've recently been reading a series called Lady Darby Mysteries. The heroine is a 19th century, upper class women who investigates. She is an artist and despite constraints on women, at that time, her paintings do produce an income. In the series, Lady Darby (Kiera) lives in seclusion in the remote Scotland home of her sister and brother in-law. Previously, Lady Darby had been married to a nasty man who only married her for her artist abilities. He'd wanted to produce a medical journal but didn't want to pay for an artist. He hid his true intentions while acquiring the approval of Kiera's father. After the marriage he forced Kiera to watch dissections of cadavers so she could sketch body parts. Fortunately, he dies from a heart attack two years into their marriage. It's interesting to read about how women lived in the 19th century. The author, Anne Lee Huber, has taken care to be accurate with not only women's habits, clothing and, speech but also wa...
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The Victoria Sedgwick Mysteries
I found a new Victorian Mystery series: Victoria Sedgwick Mysteries by Blythe Baker. The series begins in the home of our heroine, Victoria Sedgwick. She is sitting with her new born son when her husband stumbles in, late, after spending his evening carousing. She sends him to retrieve an additional blanket, for their son, out of the nursery. Shortly after entering the nursery, the drops dead. The remainder of this first book, Victoria conducts her own investigation to determine what killed her husband. Typical, for upper class ladies of her time period, Victoria struggles to protect her home while considering options for her future and how to support herself. The Sedgwick staff, butler, ladies maid, nanny, cook, and, stable-hand care for the house and grounds while assisting their employer uncover the truth. I am currently reading the last book in this series. Can't put it down. More to come...
DOROTHY MARTIN MYSTERIES
The newest editions to my COVID reading list is a series with a retired schoolteacher, Dorothy Martin as its main character. Dorothy grew up in a small Indiana town, became a grade schoolteacher and married Frank Martin, a college professor. The Martins had spent time in England while Frank was teaching at a small English College. They absolutely fell in love with England and decided to retire there; unfortunately, Frank passed away before they could move. Dorothy decided to move anyway. She purchases a 17 th century cottage in a town that’s a hour-ish outside of London. It’s here that she starts her retirement escapades as a solver of crimes. Dorothy has an attraction for wearing hats, some of them are quite unique and each book mentions one or more of the hats in her repertoire. Along the way the author describes events in British historical events and landmarks located near the site of the murder or places encountered along the way. There are also continual Englis...
Tea Shop Mysteries (Updated 10/7/20)
Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs, Broken Bone China, Death by Darjeeling, Plum Tea Crazy, Seeped in Evil & Ming Tea Murder I never knew there were so many different flavors of tea! Each book introduces new (at least to me) flavors of tea, and, either in the text or as a footnote provides more detail on teas consumed by the characters. In addition, the books main tea shop serves pastries and other foods for which recipes are provided at the end of the book. The books are entertaining, educational, and, menu pleasing. The heroine of this series is Theodosia Brown, a fiery red-head who is also owner of the tea shop featured in the books. She is assisted in her sleuthing by her staff, Haley, a 20-ish cook extraordinaire; and, by Drayton, who tea maker. Together the trio work to solve a murder mystery which often draws one or all three into harm’s way. Recipes, for scones, sandwiches, soups and other desserts served at ...
Cancer:
In many forms affects persons of every race, creed and, color. People I personally know have had Uterine Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Melanoma, Lymphoma, Leukemia, Liver Cancer, and Lung Cancer…the clinical names may be different. In some it metastasized and moved on to death. In others it was caught early and life goes on, at least for now.. For everyone the diagnosis was terrifying. How would you react if diagnosed with cancer? Overwhelmed? Scared? Lonely? Denial? None of us can really know what we would do; whether we would act or react; calm or irrational? Persons making drastic changes in their lives is very common. Last Holiday is a movie about a women who receives a terminal diagnosis. She quits her job, withdraws all her money and goes on, what she believes, is her last chance to do anything. This reaction is whimsical; a way to spend your final days having a really good time. Then there is the opposite action by people who grow ...