The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk – Review

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3 stars, Book Review, books, Eva Jurczyk, library, mystery

Review of The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

When Liesl Weiss’s boss has a stroke, she must take over running the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.  First order of business, find the missing, very expensive book.  With uncooperative co-workers, a demanding college president and the ever-present entitled donors, Liesl’s job just went from satisfying to stressful.  

In every job I’ve had, the more trying the situation, the more people knuckled down and worked together.  Not the bunch at this library.  Avoiding blame and placing it seem to be everyone’s strategy.  Sounds like politicians.   The result was a bunch of characters that left me unsympathetic.  Which means I didn’t get engaged in the story.   Liesl, the heroine, struggles through the entire book to gain my sympathy, but always falls short – as a manager, as a wife, as a friend.  I’m not saying that heroines have to be strong and nearly perfect.  However, I would have enjoyed Liesl a little more if she had a bit more backbone.

Not everyone who reads this book will feel the same way.  Others might get excited about university politics and departmental infighting.  Some might be into rare books.  I prefer accessible books.  Other readers may really like solving the mystery to find the thief.  Half-way through the book, I knew who the culprit was, so there wasn’t even much of a puzzle. 

There were a couple of themes that the author put out there.  One of the side-stories was about mental illness.  There was also the subject of good old boys doing things their way while those that disagree (women) have to find a way to work around them.

This was a disappointing book for me, though was good enough to read to the end.  And in the end, Liesl did the right thing. 

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

What holds more secrets in the library: the ancient books shelved in the stacks or the people who preserve them?

Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she’s left to run things, she discovers that the library’s most prized manuscript is missing.

Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues’ pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who preserve and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.

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Twilight at Moorington Cross by Abigail Wilson – Review

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5 stars, Book Review, gothic, mystery, Regency, romance

Review of Twilight at Moorington Cross

Twilight at Moorington Cross is mystery and romance in a gothic historical setting.  The very odd circumstances for Amelia Pembroke make for a compelling tale.  She is the heir to Cluett’s Mesmeric Hospital, but will only inherit if she marries one of two equally undesirable men.  Amelia also has a mysterious illness that no one understands. 

Ewan Hawkins is the solicitor who is present when Dr. Cluett, dies.  The ensuing story is a combination of a questionable death, a conditional inheritance, Amelia, Ewan, the possible husbands and the hospital residents who are also Amelia’s friends.   

Amelia and Ewan spend time together in order to determine Amelia’s best option. But that just brings them closer together as Amelia learns she is not keen on either possible husband.  In the seemingly impossible situation, they also discover a strange resident in one of the hospital’s out buildings and all the while, they suspect that Dr. Cluett’s death was not natural.

The setting of a big house that has closed off wings and creepy secret passageways give the story a gothic feel, as does the odd resident.  Eerie is another word to describe the feeling invoked by the mystery.  This book has atmosphere to spare.

Twilight at Moorington Cross is lightly connected to the Abigail Wilson’s Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey.  This book features a heroine who wants to maintain some control over her life in a time when women did not have many such rights. An engaging hero who feels she deserves that control means Amelia will have a happy ending.  I am always pleased to read one of Abigail Wilson’s books.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Twilight at Moorington Cross by Abigail Wilson

Brushed cruelly aside by the only father figure she’s ever known and then hospitalized by her arranged husband months before his death, Amelia Pembroke means to take control of her future at last, one way or another. Yet she knows all too well she faces an uphill battle, considering her transient sleeping spells are only getting worse.

Cluett’s Mesmeric Hospital has been something of a refuge for Amelia over the past year, even if it didn’t exactly improve her condition. But when her doctor is murdered and her name surprisingly turns up in his will, her options take a drastic turn. She has thirty days to marry one of two named gentlemen—strangers to her—and she will inherit everything from her friend and doctor, Mr. Cluett. One simple decision and all her financial troubles are at an end. The only problem is it’s not a simple decision anymore. Not when she’s falling in love with another man.

Ewan Hawkins has received his first assignment as an apprenticed solicitor: to update a man’s will. Finally, a chance to prove to society that possessing a disfigurement won’t hold him back. Thus, he means to do his job well. Of course, he never could have anticipated a murder, nor the strange clause added to the will—nor, most importantly, the charming widow who has found a way to capture his heart. She doesn’t want to be there. He doesn’t either.

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Beaucoup Fracas (The Big Uneasy, #6) by Pauline Baird Jones – Review

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5 stars, Book Review, cars, cozy mystery, mystery, Pauline Baird Jones, series

Review of Beaucoup Fracas

A woman from Wyoming inherits a Louisiana junkyard from a father she never knew.  When she checks it out, she meets Gideon Baker, private detective from New Orleans who is looking for a car that may have ended up in the junkyard.

A mystery in a junkyard.  I’m pretty sure, as a setting, a junkyard not the most popular.  But maybe it should be.  I mean, all that stuff that the rest of the world has ignored.  It can hide things.  And keep secrets. 

Unless you have the charming duo of Jessica Savoie and Gideon Baker.  Plus an even-though-its-a-junkyard-stiletto-wearing wise gal, Cinzia Calvino, who readers may recognize from Fais Do Do Die.  And the local (not bumbling) sheriff.  All these people looking for something: maybe the same thing, maybe not the same thing.  It is hard to tell until you get to the end.

I’m a fan of The Big Uneasy series for many reasons.  First, I am always delighted with Ms. Baird’s writing style and sense of humor.  Who else could make a sentence like ‘Not that there was a there there.’ (not a typo) work?  The author also tends to introduce pop culture that resonates with readers of a certain age.  Exhibit A in this book is Paul Drake.   Either you get it, or you don’t.  I enjoy the charming cozy mystery style and the engaging main characters who are inevitably headed for a kiss.  The series setting of New Orleans is great, but Beaucoup Fracas moves the action ‘back of beyond’ Louisiana small town.  Not as good, but the addition of the hot humid August, added to the sense of place.  And to the tension of the mystery.

Rummage through the junkyard with Beaucoup Fracas.  Finding a fun mystery will be your reward. 

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Beaucoup Fracas by Pauline Baird Jones

She doesn’t want to be there. He doesn’t either.

Private investigator, Gideon Baker, is on the trail of a missing husband. A tip about the man’s car sends him to the Savoie Salvage yard in steamy southern Louisiana, but the owner is dead and his daughter, Jessica, is trying to sort out the mess her father left behind.

Jessica would rather be anywhere than dealing with the debris left behind by the father she never met. His salvage—aka junkyard is giving her daddy issues and heat rash. Oh, and there is that a dead body.

Gideon and Jessica strike sparks—the good kind—as they find themselves following a trail of murder, betrayal, and classic cars.

Can they survive the heat and the gunshots long enough to fall in love?

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