The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper – Review

Tags

4 stars, Australia, Book Review, historical mystery, Tea Cooper, WWI

Review of The Fossil Hunter

After serving as an ambulance driver during the war to end all wars, P.J. Martindale arrives home with her fiancé.  But her two brothers did not make it home.  Determined to memorialize her brothers and repair the rift with her father, P.J. heads for the place that her brothers had hunted fossils.  It also happens to be the place Anthea Winstanley discovered fossils that ended up in a London museum.  P.J. finds bones in the very place that the fossils were found. That is just one of several mysteries to be worked out.  What are these bones?  What happened to Anthea Winstanley?  What happened to P.J.’s brothers before they joined the army?  And why is her father so angry with her? 

The Fossil Hunter is dual timeline story.  The 1847 timeline details some of the events Winstanley’s life along with the young girl she took in.  The girl, Mellie, is the most interesting viewpoint due to her troubled past, her young age and her eventual obsession with fossil hunting. 

The 1919 timeline is P.J.’s story.  At 72 years apart, the two sets of events appear to have little in common.  What ties them together is fascination with fossils.  

This is a lovely story about family, secrets and the decisions people make when calamity strikes.  While the ending was, in some part, predictable, I enjoyed the unfolding of the various mysteries.  The Fossil Hunter is for readers of historical fiction who like to help the characters solve a mystery.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book. My review is my honest opinion. 

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About The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper

Buried secrets. An ancient fossil. And one woman’s determination to unravel a nineteenth century mystery.

Australia, 1847. The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is sprinting through the bush, a monster at her heels–but no one believes her. In a bid to curb Mellie’s overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur paleontologist convinced she will one day find proof that great sea dragons swam in the vast inland sea that millions of years ago covered her property. Mellie is instantly swept up in the dream.

1919. When Penelope Jane Martindale arrives home from the battlefields of World War I with the intention of making peace with her father and commemorating the death of her two younger brothers in the trenches, her reception is disappointing. Desperate for a distraction, she finds a connection between a fossil at London’s Natural History Museum and her brothers’ favorite camping spot and the last place they were seen before falsifying their ages to join the army. But the gorge has a sinister reputation: seventy years ago, six women disappeared from there. So when P. J. uncovers some unexpected remains, it seems as if the past is reaching into the present. She’s determined to find answers about what happened all those years ago . . . and perhaps also some closure to the loss of her brothers.

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A Pretty Deceit (Verity Kent Mystery, #4) by Anna Lee Huber – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, England, historical, historical mystery, Ireland, London, post-war, romance, The Great War, WWI

About A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber

Peacetime has brought little respite for Verity Kent. Intrigue still abounds, even within her own family. As a favor to her father, Verity agrees to visit his sister in Wiltshire. Her once prosperous aunt has fallen on difficult times and is considering selling their estate. But there are strange goings-on at the manor, including missing servants, possible heirloom forgeries, and suspicious rumors—all leading to the discovery of a dead body on the grounds.

While Verity and her husband, Sidney, investigate this new mystery, they are also on the trail of an old adversary—the shadowy and lethal Lord Ardmore. At every turn, the suspected traitor seems to be one step ahead of them. And even when their dear friend Max, the Earl of Ryde, stumbles upon a code hidden among his late father’s effects that may reveal the truth about Ardmore, Verity wonders if they are really the hunters—or the hunted . . .

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Review of A Pretty Deceit

A Pretty Deceit picks up where Penny for Your Secrets left off.  Verity, Sidney and their friends continue to uncover proof of Lord Ardmore’s treacherous dealings.

However, a stop at her Aunt’s house to investigate some strange goings-on temporarily distracts Verity from the problem of Lord Ardmore.  This unrelated venture serves several purposes: 1) adds to the further post-war setting, reminding us further of the aftermath of war, 2) allows Verity to flex her mystery solving skills, and 3) makes the reader wonder what this trip has to do with Lord Ardmore.  The dual sets of seemingly unrelated events is becoming a staple of Ms. Huber’s mysteries.

In this exploit, Verity and Sidney find adventure, more mystery, friends, family, danger and romance.  The end of the story will answer some questions, but not all.  This is how the reader is assured the story continues.

As part of the series, in A Pretty Deceit, I enjoy learning more about the events and aftermath of WWI due to the author’s own interest and research into the era.  I also appreciate the ongoing relationship between Verity and Sidney who have struggled since the war ended, but still love each other very much.  And finally, the Kent’s travel around the British Isles is veritable travelogue of that region of the world.

You can read the books in this series as a standalones, but the experience is enhanced by starting at the beginning.  If you are a fan of historical mysteries, I recommend all four books!

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

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Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber – Review

Tags

5 stars, Anna Lee Huber, historical mystery, WWI

About Treacherous is the Night

In 1919 England, in the shadow of The Great War, many look to the spirit world for answers. But it will take an all too earthbound intrigue to draw in the discerning heroine of Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery . . .

It’s not that Verity Kent doesn’t sympathize with those eager to make contact with lost loved ones. After all, she once believed herself a war widow. But now that she’s discovered Sidney is very much alive, Verity is having enough trouble connecting with her estranged husband, never mind the dead. Still, at a friend’s behest, Verity attends a séance, where she encounters the man who still looms between her and Sidney—and a medium who channels a woman Verity once worked with in the Secret Service. Refusing to believe her former fellow spy is dead, Verity is determined to uncover the source of the spiritualist’s top secret revelation.

Then the medium is murdered—and Verity’s investigation is suddenly thwarted. Even Secret Service agents she once trusted turn their backs on her. Undaunted, Verity heads to war-torn Belgium, with Sidney by her side. But as they draw ever closer to the danger, Verity wonders if she’s about to learn the true meaning of till death do us part . . .

Review of Treacherous is the Night

Treacherous is the Night is an historical mystery that takes place after the end of the war to end all wars – World War I. A traumatic time in Europe, the effects of the war are far reaching and when Verity Kent is ‘visited’ by the spirit of her wartime friend, she knows someone is lying and is determined to find the truth.

Riding along with Verity, in her quest to discover the facts behind the message, is her husband Sidney. They find Belgium devastated by the war and full of both friends and foes. The investigation takes many unexpected detours and turns up more than just a lost friend. The mystery is complex and the solving of it very satisfying. The twists and turns made this book very difficult to put down.

But there is more than a mystery going on in Treacherous is the Night. Since Sidney’s return from the war, his relationship with Verity has been strained. Uncertain of their future together, Verity knows they are both keeping so many secrets from each other. While the investigation takes them on a trek through war-ravaged Belgium, Sidney and Verity chisel away at the war-built wall that stands between them. The trip will be one of many discoveries. This correlation between the war-torn land and the relationship between the not-so-happy couple lead me to the conclusion that Treacherous is the Night is an ode to the survivors of war.

Not only those survivors that fought directly in the war, but also the families of soldiers, as well as those working tirelessly for their country. When the war is over, there is still so much to be dealt with by so many people. The restoration of the land, cities and homes destroyed by war. The physical healing of bodies injured by war. But by far the greatest healing has to be mental. For soldiers trying to return to their old way of life. For the spouses and families adjusting to the changes in the soldier that just came home. For soldiers adjusting to the changes in their loved ones. Post war can never be like it was before the strife started.

By the end of the book, there is hope for Verity and Sidney, just as there is hope for everyone else recovering from the upheaval of war. The positive ending was just what I needed to appreciate everything this book encompasses. Mystery, suspense, love, and hope.

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