October Reads

October was a solid reading month. I didn't have any star reads and my lowest score was 3 stars. See below for my thoughts on the books I read. The first two come with links to longer reviews on this blog because I was lucky enough to get ARCs through Netgalley.

What was your October like? Did you read any books you'd like to recommend? Please share in the comment section because I'm always on the lookout for new gems.

MISS BEETON’S MURDER AGENCY (Miss Beeton #1) by Josie Lloyd (4-*)

A fast-paced, thrilling mystery, and captivating crime-caper with a few too many wtf moments for me to rate if five stars. If you like your cosy mystery with a large dose of mayhem, a host of larger-than-life characters, a cute little doggo, as well as plenty of action, and you don’t mind suspending disbelief once or twice, you’re going to love Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency.

Longer review: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2024/10/miss-beetons-murder-agency-by-josie.html

 

EVERONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET (Ernest Cunningham #3) by Benjamin Stevenson (4.5*)

I found this book all but impossible to put down. Ernest’s chatty narration pulled me along and had my swiping through the pages as fast as I could. The cast of characters was fascinating and the possible motifs for murder kept me guessing until Ernest reveals all in the rather spectacular denouement. Did I pick up on all the clues? No! Did I figure out whodunit? Also, no! But did I thoroughly enjoy myself while reading this book? Absolutely!

If you’re looking for a captivating, well-plotted and faultlessly executed mystery this Christmas, you are probably looking for Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret.

Longer review: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2024/10/everyone-this-christmas-has-secret-by.html

 

ONE OF US IS DEAD (Roy Grace #21) by Peter James (3*)

Rufus Rorke was supposed to have died two years ago but is recognised, alive and well by a man he used to be friends with. At the same time the police, led by Detective Superintendent Roy Grace are investigating a number of suspicious deaths. It isn’t long before the police's attention is focussed on Rufus. But how do you catch a man who has successfully lived undercover for years?

This is a well-written story with a fascinating plot. I was disappointed that it wasn’t a real mystery or thriller, though. This is not a whodunnit but a ‘how-do-we-catch-him’ sorta story and I kept on waiting for a twist in the tale that never happened.

 

MY BROTHER’S HUSBAND (My Brother’s Husband #1) by Gengoroh Tagame (4*)

I’m copying the original blurb here since I can’t put it better myself:

Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki, father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it.

I’m not sure how much I like reading Mangas but even turning the pages from back to front didn’t diminish how much I enjoyed this touching story.

 

AUTUMN CHILLS by Agatha Christie (4.5*)

A collection of 12 short stories featuring Hercule Poirot (4 stories), Miss Marple (2 stories), Harley Quin (2 stories), Parker Pyne (1 story), Tommy & Tuppence (1 story). Two of the stories were stand-alone and one of them (While the Light Lasts) wasn’t actually a mystery. While I enjoyed some stories more than others, all of them were a delight to read.

 

YOU ARE HERE by David Nicholls (4+)

Michael and Marnie have both retreated from the world after their marriages failed. Now they both find themselves on a coast to coast walk and with every passing kilometre they find themselves coming out of their self-imposed shells and getting closer to each other. A well-written and intriguing read about second chances taking them.

 

DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER by Alice Slater (3.5*)

A story about obsession that makes for an obsessive read despite the fact that I’m not sure how much I actually liked the main characters or the story itself. The book makes the reader wonder about the popularity of true crime books, podcasts, and television shows. How healthy is that fascination and how does that public interest affect those who have to live with the consequences of murder? The book’s ending was a bit too ambiguous for my liking too. Just as the title is a little misleading.

Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd

 

Miss Beeton Mysteries #1

384 pages

Publisher: HQ

Release Date: October 24, 2024

 

Blurb

Alice Beeton never meant to wind up single and childless on the wrong side of fifty. Like her distant relative Mrs Beeton – yes, that Mrs Beeton – she had hoped to have her own spic-and-span household by now. In reality, she lives in an immaculate but dingy basement flat in a rather shabby block in Kensington with Agatha, her fiercely intelligent, if rather over-territorial, corgi-Jack Russell cross.

Now Alice runs the Good Household Management Agency, providing discreet domestic staff to extravagant townhouses and sprawling country piles. So when Camille Messant calls in urgent need of a new housekeeper, Miss Beeton sends out new hire Enya. She’s rather forward but she does come with impeccable references and is fluent en français.

But in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Alice is rudely awakened with the news that Enya has been found dead. As the police struggle to drum up an adequate investigation and the wealthy family and their party guests close rank, Miss Beeton takes it upon herself to solve the crime…

 

Review

Alice Beeton is a distant relative of the Miss Beeton of Miss Beeton’s Book of Household Management fame. She runs the Good Household Management Agency providing domestic staff to the rich and famous. When she employs a new hire named Enya on the same day that she is asked to provide the Messant household with a housekeeper immediately, it seems too good to be true. When, only a few days later, Enya is found dead, Alice Beeton feels responsible. With the police investigation not going anywhere, Alice decides to do some investigating of her own. After all, she’s a huge fan of murder mysteries. How hard can it be to unmask a murderer?

Alice with more than a little help from her friends Jinx, Helly, Barney, Jacques, and Massoud, to name but a few, soon discovers that investigating a crime is much harder than it looks between the covers of a book. And much more fraught with danger too. Going undercover in the Messant household to replace Enya, Alice Beeton finds herself taking risks and not getting anywhere fast. But, as she reflects 49% into the book: “Being stuck in the middle was part of the process.”

There’s a lot going on in this book apart from the murder which is not surprising since this appears to be the first book in a planned series which means that several characters and back stories had to be established. If I’m honest, it was a bit (too) much for me at times. More than once, I found myself wondering ‘who are you again?’ about secondary characters and some plot developments were outrageous enough that I found myself rolling my eyes. At the same time, the writing is smooth, and the story was intriguing enough to keep me turning the pages.

There are recipes in this book, some going back to the original Mrs. Beeton and others more modern. These recipes are placed right behind the place where a dish is mentioned right in the middle of chapters, and I’d love to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, the formatting of the ARC the publisher provided me with meant that they were literally unreadable. That is a shame since most of the dishes mentioned in the story sounded very yummy and I wouldn’t have minded trying my hand at recreating one or two of them.

Overall, this was a fast-paced, thrilling mystery, and captivating crime-caper with a few too many wtf moments for me to rate if five stars. If you like your cosy mystery with a large dose of mayhem, a host of larger-than-life characters, a cute little doggo, as well as plenty of action, and you don’t mind suspending disbelief once or twice, you’re going to love Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency.