Below Stairs Mystery by Jennifer Ashley – Series Review

Tags

5 stars, Anne-Marie Piazz, Book Review, historical, Jennifer Ashley, mystery, romance, series, Victorian England

The World of Kat Hollway

Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble often finds its way below stairs.  

Below Stairs Mystery Series summary adapted from the book blurb for Death Below Stairs.

Review

I was introduced to the Below Stairs Mystery series in 2018 when I read Death Below Stairs, the first book in a new series. The Victorian era historical mystery had a unique appeal because of its working class heroine, Kat Holloway, who solves mysteries while she whips up sauces, bakes seed cake and pours tea. Kat’s friend, Daniel McAdam, is another working class character whose mysteriousness is as appealing as it is annoying to Kat. Kat and Daniel help each other out – often – and enjoy a little very slow burning romance along the way.

The series is full of wonderful secondary characters that complement every aspect of the story. Lady Cynthia, who lives in the house where Kat works, is the eccentric, yet charming upper class cross dresser who always has Kat’s back. Daniel’s friend, Thanos, is super smart and is also awkwardly sweet on Cynthia. Daniel’s son James is the youth-nearly-a-man that wants to be like his father. With the second book, Kat takes on an assistant cook, Tess. Her rough beginnings lend her a charm that works because she devoted to Kat. Mr. Davis, the household butler is gruff, yet oddly helpful at times.

All the main and secondary characters are likable and intelligent. And of course, they all love to solve a good mystery.

The author’s attention to detail often includes mouth-watering dishes as prepared by one of the best cooks in London, along with colorful descriptions of the kaleidescope setting of London and the people that inhabit the city.

Typically, each book has an intricately woven plot that strings out details until the very end, sustaining the reader that likes to keep guessing but doesn’t really want to figure out the mystery until the very last page.

I listened to the audiobooks of books 2 and 3 (Scandal Above Stairs and Death in Kew Gardens). Anne-Marie Piazz is a fine narrator whose subtle voice changes for different characters were unaffected and perfect.

I was able to download the most recent installment, Death at the Crystal Palace, from my library’s digital collection, so check your library to save some $$$. I skipped #4, Murder in the East End, due to the unavailability of a low cost option, but I’ve put it on my TBR. Book #6, The Secret of Bow Lane, will be released in August and it is on my NetGalley review list.

A Soupcon of Poison is a series prequel and the e-book is currently free in the Past Crimes anthology.

*****************************

Links

Add Below Stairs Mystery books to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase books in the Below Stairs Mystery series:

Ascendant (The Made Ones Saga, #3) by Vicki Stiefel – Review

Tags

5 stars, birds, fantasy, feature, parallel universe, romance, scifi, series, trees, Vicki Stiefel

Review of Ascendant

The Made Ones Saga has been on my favorites list since I read Altered in 2019.  This sci-fi/ fantasy/ romance mashup is perfect for any reader that likes these genres presented in an imaginative setting with compelling characters who overcome traumatic life changes, prejudice and world-ending evil scientists.

Sybelle joins her sisters Bree and Kit (see Changed and Altered) in the earth-parallel world of Eleutia.  This new world presents many challenges and much joy for Sybelle who now lives amount the CastOuts.  The clan leader, Kestrel, is a man of many mysteries. 

At the heart of the story, and indeed the entire series, is the struggle against the Alchemics, who have dire things planned for Eleutia and for Earth.  Sybelle and Kestrel may be key in overcoming the Alchemics.  They will also have help from Sybelle’s sisters, their mates, and their animal symbionts.

Highlights from Ascendant: 1) Sybelle’s ties to nature – she communicates easily with trees, especially Mother Tree, 2) Kestrel’s ability to communicate with birds, 3) the slowly evolving romance between Sybelle and Kestrel 4) Ohtli, the CastOut girl with unusual gifts, and 5) the climactic made-for-the-movies battle scene.    

This conclusion to The Made Ones Saga is epic!  With an extraordinary world, the author has brought together fantastic beings, heroic deeds, and legendary battles. 

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book.  My review is my honest opinion.

About Ascendant by Vicki Stiefel

What if you could be young again? Would it be a dream come true or truly a nightmare? For Sybelle, the youngest of the Balazova sisters, awakening on the parallel world of Eleutia is no delight. From experiencing near suffocation to changes in her flesh, Eleutia seems a strange and hostile place, though the world itself feels oddly familiar. Her resonance with The Kestrel, the mysterious leader of the CastOuts, only increases her bewilderment, as does the appearance of Mother Tree.

As Mother pulls Sybi into her orbit, the controlling Alchemics tighten their noose on Eleutia. War is brewing—no longer will Eleutia’s symbiotic animal clans tolerate the Alchemic strictures.

Could Sybelle be the fulcrum fated to avoid destruction and save this strange world? Or is she merely a pawn to be used by the Alchemics in their battle for supremacy? Worse, will Sybi’s tug-of-war ultimately destroy her, the sisters she adores, and the man who has come to mean the world to her.. Or will she ascend, triumphant, and save all she holds dear?

Links

Add Ascendant to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase Ascendant:

If you are new to the series, you may want to go for omnibus that includes all three books in the series (releases May 15):

A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time, #1) by Kelley Armstrong – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, historical mystery, Kelley Armstrong, series, time travel

Review of A Rip Through Time

After an attack, a time travelling 21^st century woman wakes up in the body of a Victorian era maid with a less than stellar reputation.  Mallory is challenged with finding out how to get home while also solving the mystery of who attacked her and coping with 19^th century attitudes.  Throw in two additional murders and overcoming the maid’s untrustworthy name and you will find a tense, action-packed story sure to keep you turning pages.

Just to make the setting a bit more complex, ethnic and racial discrimination vie with sexual inequities, to make the 19^th century even more distressing to a 21^st century police detective.  Who is, by the way, without her cell phone that she would normally use to research every other thing that comes up in the unfamiliar place that is 1869 Edinburgh.

A little humor – as one would expect from a character out of her own time – lightens the mood occasionally.  Appealing secondary characters Dr. Duncan Gray and Isla Wallace help to carry the story.  The plot is taut and the writing is absorbing.  Readers of Julie McElwain’s Kendra Donovan series will enjoy A Rip Through Time, as will historical fiction and mystery readers.

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

*****************************

About A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona’s body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it’s too late.

*****************************

Links

Add A Rip Through Time to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase A Rip Through Time (Release May 31):