Murderous Procession, by Ariana Franklin

In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity . . . and whether he is stalking the princess or Adelia herself.

I have waited a whole year for this one, I love Franklin's writing, the characters are so enjoyable. We revisit some character who have not been seen in a while making this one extra special. So hope there will be more Mistress books. 4.5 out of 5

High ans Bess, By Susan Higginbotham

Blurb:Forced to marry Hugh le Despenser, the son and grandson of disgraced traitors, Bess de Montacute, just 13 years old, is appalled at his less-than-desirable past. Meanwhile, Hugh must give up the woman he really loves in order to marry the reluctant Bess. Far apart in age and haunted by the past, can Hugh and Bess somehow make their marriage work?
Just as walls break down and love begins to grow, the merciless plague endangers all whom the couple holds dear, threatening the life and love they have built.

A little on the light side but overall a sweet love story. 3 out of 5

Company of Liars, By Karen Maitland

Desperate to outrun the Black Death ravaging England during the sodden summer of 1348, nine disparate souls band together in this harrowing historical, which infuses a Canterbury Tales scenario with the spectral chill of an M. Night Shyamalan ghost story. Maitland (The White Room) gives each of the travelers a potentially devastating secret. How did narrator Camelot, a glib-tongued peddler of false relics and hope, really come by that hideously scarred face? What is magician Zophiel hiding inside his wagon? And just who is Narigorm, the spooky albino girl whose readings of the runes are always eerily on target? As the nine strangers slog cross-country through the pestilential landscape, their number shrinking one by one, they come to realize that what they don't know about each other might just kill them.
This was an excellent book, moving right along part mystery part history lesson. With one of the best endings I have read in a while. I hope the characters are revisited. 4.5 out of 5

Alice I have Been by, Melanie Benjamin

Blurb: Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.
That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.
For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.
A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.
I just could not get into this book, I thought the author was trying to make Lewis Carroll out to be a pervert, maybe he was but I don't want to read out one. 2 out of 5

A Beautiful Blue Death, By Charles Finch

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.
Prudence Smith, one of Jane’s former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl’s death.
When another body turns up during the London season’s most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle a web of loyalties and animosities. Was it jealousy that killed Prudence Smith? Or was it something else entirely? And can Lenox find the answer before the killer strikes again—this time, disturbingly close to home?
Finch is a new author to me, I decided to start this series at the beginning. So far there are three Lenox mysteries. I read somewhere how they were comparing the main character Lenox to Sherlock Holmes. I didn't see any resemblance between the two other than they are both white males that like to solve crimes. While I did like parts of the story and plan to read book two. I had a difficult time finishing the book. Found it slow and some of the dialogue boring some words like "Sir" used far to much in conversations. 2.5 out of 5

Drood, By Dan Simmons

Blurb: On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens--at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world--hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in The Terror, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens's life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens's friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, DROOD is Dan Simmons at his powerful best.
This is the first Simmons book I have read, I was intrigued with the books premise, I felt the book was way too long almost 800 pages. Found the skipping from the past to future, and present all a bit too much. But there were some excellent parts. Simmons draws the seedy part of London well that along with the Dickens/Wilkie interaction are the best parts. But I didn't feel he really ever captured the spirit of Drood. 3 out of 5

Deanna Raybourn, The Dead Travel Fast

A husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all.
With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh—and a disappointed suitor—far behind. She is bound for Rumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence.
She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians, replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu.

Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute—Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway.
Before her sojourn is ended—or her novel completed—Theodora will have encountered things as strange and terrible as they are seductive. For obsession can prove fatal…and she is in danger of falling prey to more than desire.

I didn't like this book as much as I wanted to. The setting was dark along with the characters. 3 out of 5

Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler, The Monsters Mary Shelley & The Curse Of Frankenstein

Blurb:The remarkable true story of Frankenstein's origins and the curse on its creators.
On a dark and stormy night in 1816, on the shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Lord Byron, famed English poet, challenged his friends to a contest--to write a ghost story. The assembled group included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont; and Byron's physician, John William Polidori. The famous result of that night was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a work that appeared in print two years later and has retained its hold on the popular imagination for almost two centuries. Less well-known was Polidori's work, the first vampire novel. It too would inspire a legend (and most directly Bram Stoker's Dracula), as well as many nightmares. And the evening begat a curse, too: Within a few years of Frankenstein's publication, nearly all of those involved met untimely deaths.

THE MONSTERS tells the riveting story of the real-life characters surrounding the creation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It reveals not just the origins of two of the most famous monsters in popular culture, but the monstrous nature of the young people who gathered on the shore of Lake Geneva. Gripping and spooky, THE MONSTERS is unforgettable.

One of the most well written and engaging biographies I have read. I new very little about these 5 people before, now I have better understanding of who they were and just how great. To me Byron benefited most from the Shelley's while Percy gained more from friendship with Byron. Mary Shelley may have never written Frankenstein if not for Byron that summer. 5 out of 5

Katherine McMahon, The Alchemist's Daughter

Blurb:Dark secrets haunt the manor house at Selden in Buckinghamshire, where Emilie Selden, motherless, fiercely intelligent and more beautiful than she realises, has been raised in near isolation by her father.

John Selden, student of Isaac Newton, is conducting a bold and secret experiment. He aims to turn Emilie into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. Secluded in his ancient manor house, with only their two servants for company, he fills her with knowledge and records every step she takes.

In the spring of 1725, when Emilie is eighteen, father and daughter begin their most daring alchemical adventure of all - an attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But their work is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers, one a researcher into the life of plants, the other a dazzling young merchant. During the course of a sultry August, whilst her father is away, Emilie is caught up in the passion of first love and, listening for the first time to her heart rather than her head, she makes her choice…with consequences that are far-reaching and tumultuous.
While the story really isn't anything new. A story of a women who makes a choice to love over her fathers wishes. And comes to realize just how much her father meant to her. Overall I liked the premise and kept wondering how it would all end if her husband would turn out to be a user, if she would find peace with her choices. 4 out of 5

Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness

10 Short Stories that left me wondering.... I found all the stories to be about sad parts of life. Of course life isn't just wine and roses but I generally like my books to be balanced, some happiness, some trials and tribulations. Munro does a wonderful job of making her case that events in our early years shape our lives. We all change and must except people for who they are at the time. 3 out of 5 stars.

Where Serpents Sleep, By C.S. Harris

Blurb: London, 1812. The brutal slaughter of eight young prostitutes in a house of refuge near Convent Garden leaves only one survivor—and one witness: Hero Jarvis, reform-minded daughter of the Prince Regent's cousin, Lord Jarvis. When the Machiavellian power broker squashes any official inquiry that might reveal his daughter's unorthodox presence, Hero launches an investigation of her own and turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help. Still struggling to come to terms with the loss of his lover, Kat Boleyn, and the resultant estrangement from his father, Sebastian is at first reluctant to agree. But the callous violence of the murders—combined with the opportunity to provoke his archenemy, Jarvis—prompts him to act.
This is my favorite book and cover of the series. The book moves smoothly with characters true to their time period. Hero is a strong independent young women who is enjoyable to read about. I hope there will be more of these to read. 4.5 out of 5

Philippa Gregory, The White Queen

Description: Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors.

The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.

While I think Gregory is an excellent story teller, I found this book to be a little over romantic. But overall a very good book about a women who is not written about all that much. I hope to see more books about her. 4 out of 5

C.S. Harris, When Gods Die

June, 1811. On a summer's evening at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, the beautiful young wife of an aging Marquis is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent himself. From her back protrudes a jeweled dagger that once belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie. Around her neck lies an ancient blue stone and silver necklace said to have been worn by the Druid priestesses of Wales. Legend credited the necklace with mysterious powers—until it was lost at sea with its last owner, the mother of Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin.
Second book in a series about a Nobel man with a heart. The story digs deeper into the mystery surrounding the hero's mother whom Devlin thought drowned off the coast of Brighton. It's now looking as if she lives, that she sailed away from her family. Leaving behind an 11 year old boy to a father that may not be his. The most interesting thing about Harris's writing to me is her layers of mystery that she is slowly building up to. She has created like able characters who are true to their time period. I did skip a few pages though but overall a good story. I keep reading because I care for her characters and want to know how the mysteries within will end. 4 out of 5

Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

Blurb: At the end of her life, Catherine, the cast-off wife of Charles Dickens, gave the letters she had received from her husband to their daughter Kate, asking her to donate them to the British Museum, "so the world may know that he loved me once." The incredible vulnerability and heartache evident beneath the surface of this remark inspired Gaynor Arnold to write Girl in a Blue Dress. Arnold brings the spirit of Catherine Dickens to life in the form of Dorothea "Dodo" Gibson – a woman who is doomed to live in the shadow of her husband, Alfred, the most celebrated author in the Victorian world.
This book made me very thankful of what time period I live in. To have a husband set a wife asside as Dickens did is just so unimaginable to me. Gaynor does an excellent job of bringing the overly self involved Dickens to life. I read a great deal about Dickens before reading this book so I could see how Gaynor would weave fact with fiction. I only wish she would have had Dickens and the fictional Gibson's childhoods more the same. It would have made Dickens to be more understood of some of the things he did in life, how obsessed he was with work and providing for his family, and in some ways it would have made him even more selfish for casting off his unwanted wife. Overall and excellent first author book with a story that moves right along with well written characters. Gaynor lets us view through Victorian era window to visit with a family with a full range of emotions. 5 out of 5

Charlaine Harris, From Dead To Worse

Blurb: After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and the manmade horror of the explosion at the vampire summit, Sookie Stackhouse is safe but dazed, yearning for things to get back to normal. But her boyfriend Quinn is among the missing. And things are changing, whether the weres and vamps in her corner of Louisiana like it or not. In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death…and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood ceases flowing, her world will be forever altered.Book 8 in the series. We just love the HBO series True Blood, so I wanted to listed to one of the CD books. Overall the story is very good but some of the characters are a little different from the show, this is the only fault I have. Book has excellent flow and well developed characters. 4.5 out of 5

C.S. Harris, What Angels Fear

Blurb: The year is 1811. As old King George III sinks deeper into madness and the threat of social unrest and revolution haunts the privileged classes, a beautiful young woman is found raped and savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient parish church not far from Westminster Abbey. An ornate dueling pistol discovered tangled in the blood-soaked folds of Rachel York's cloak and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experiences in the Napoleonic Wars. When a vicious attack during his arrest leaves a constable near death, Sebastian must run for his life.
Set at the beginning of the Regency with well written characters. 4 1/2 our of 5

C.S. Harris, What Remains Of Heaven

Blurb:London 1812. When the controversial reform-minded Bishop of London is found bludgeoned to death in an ancient crypt beside the corpse of an unidentified man murdered decades before, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, reluctantly agrees to help with the investigation.

To Sebastian's consternation, the last person to see the Bishop alive was Miss Hero Jarvis, a woman whose already strained relationship with St. Cyr has been complicated by a brief, unexpectedly passionate encounter. As his search for the killer leads him from the back allies of Smithfield to the power corridors of Whitehall, Sebastian must confront the well-guarded secrets of his own family's past—and a devastating truth that could ultimately force him to question who—and what—he really is.
I just love this cover. One of the biggest rules is never to buy a book based on it's cover, but that is exactly what I did. This is book five another rule broke starting a series at the end instead of the beginning, but I couldn't find book one. The characters are well written, true to their time period, Harris has a way of making you not really sure who the killer or evil doer is until the end. Harris's books are fst paced, flow well with just the right mix of action and dialog. Enough so I have tracked down the other 4 books and now am reading them in order. 4.8 out of 5

The King's Nun: A Novel of King Charlemagne, by Catherine Monroe

In the eighth century, a woman with a mind of her own rarely found more than scorn and abuse. Such is life for Amelia of Ardennes, until she becomes a novice in the MŸnster-Bilzen Abbey. In the cloistered world of the church she just might reach her potential as an intellectual and spiritual being. But when Charlemagne, the most powerful man in Europe, visits the abbey, Amelia is chosen to escort the charismatic king and her life is forever changed. Enamored of her spirit and intelligence-as well as her beauty-the king brings her to the palace to act as his trusted advisor. As time passes, the bond between them grows stronger, as does Amelia's determination to become an abbess. And when Charlemagne is pulled away by war, Amelia finds herself torn between her unrequited affection for the king and her devotion to her calling.
I found this book not as rich in history as most period books are, I liked the characters and finished but she's not reached auto buy status. I also found the book a little short, I am sure there isn't much written about this Sainted Women but that should not stop and author, should it? 3 out of 5

Seduction Is Forever, by Jenna Petersen

Blurb: Master spy Emily Redgrave hasn’t been the same since a night six months ago when she was cut down by a would-be assassin’s bullet. Though she is physically recovered, she’s still haunted by memories of the trauma and regrets for what almost happened. She’s desperate to re-enter the field and regain her confidence. When she’s assigned to follow and protect Grant Ashbury, the Earl of Westfield, she reluctantly accepts, knowing this ‘babysitting’ duty could very well lead to more advanced cases.
Generally I shy away from spy type novels, but this one had just the right mix. With a good plot and well developed characters. 4.5 out of 5

Built of Books, By Thomas Wright

A very well researched and interesting book about how the books Wilde read through out his life shaped everything about him. But most importantly they shaped how and what he wrote. A very sad and interesting book. 4.5 out of 5