M. R. C. Kasasian's The Mangle Street Murders

Oh, how I loved The Mangle Street Murders! It's the beginning of the story of March Middleton and her guardian, personal detective Sidney Grice.  She's intelligent and thoughtful and spunky. He's intelligent and thoughtless and shrewd (or so he would have you believe ... although he has his moments where he's almost kind and caring). More than once I let out a snort or a hoot or even a sniffle. Audible reactions while reading are almost always good signs of an excellent read.

The story takes place in 1882 London. March has just arrived to live with Grice after the death of her father, a war doctor with whom she worked closely. Shortly after her arrival a woman arrives asking Grice to take on the case of proving her son-in-law, William Ashby, innocent of murdering his wife/her daughter. March becomes involved with the case -- offering to pay Grice's fees on the woman's behalf as she has no funds to do so. Grice is soon certain that Ashby is guilty but March isn't convinced and the two often butt heads over it (and other things -- his vegetarianism, her smoking and drinking, to name but a few). Grice and his colleagues at the police station and morgue are not used to having a strong-willed female around ... and March is not used to being seen as anything but.

She holds her own on several instances although privately there's something that eats away at her. A hint to what that may be occurs early on ... although even at the end of the book I hadn't pieced it all together.

This on-going side mystery for the reader was at the same time one of the highlights AND one of the most frustrating aspects of the book. JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED, ALREADY!!!  Maybe the next in the series will elaborate. Other things I wish for for the series? Grice to get an eye that actually fits. Harriet Fitzpatrick to appear often. Inspector Pound to make a move.

Of course, I have to get through my 20 Books of Summer before I can find out if any of these wishes come true ...

Abandonment Issues (aka 20 Books of Summer 2015)

I first heard of 746 Books' 20 Books of Summer thanks to Dagny over at Vauquer Boarding House. She has on her list the first in a series -- a book that I had previously read and enjoyed and reviewed ... and then got so distracted by other books and shiny things, I abandoned the series. I've done that a LOT. So for me the 20 books of summer (June 1-September 4) will all be abandoned (or close to) series books.

A few disclaimers and such:

* This ALMOST included 3 series that had been abandoned before even beginning. Things I kept swearing I would get to next .... and then kept pushing aside. But then I thought of other series that actually HAD been abandoned (some for a number of years) and the guilt got to me.

* One of the titles below GoodReads swears I've read before but I don't believe them. That's pretty severe abandonment. If I start it and suddenly remember, I'll just adjust and move on to the next in that same series.

* I count Agatha Christie's novels as one big series since I'm reading them in order so even though The Man in the Brown Suit is the first Race novel, I still count it as part of the abandoned Christie novel series read-fest.

(alphabetical by author's last name, not necessarily in the order they will be read)

1.  Heather Blake - A Witch Before Dying (Wishcraft #2)
2. Stephanie Bond - 7 Brides for 7 Bodies (Body Movers #7) DONE
3. Rhys Bowen - A Royal Pain (Royal Spyness #2) DONE
4. Gail Carriger - Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School #2) DONE
5. Deanna Chase - Engaged Off Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun #3.5) & Angels of Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun #4) DONE
6. Agatha Christie - The Man in the Brown Suit (Christie #4/Race #1)
7. John Connolly - The Infernals (Samuel Johnson #2) DONE
8. Caroline Dunford - A Death in the Highlands (Euphemia Martin #2)
9. Carola Dunn - The Winter Garden Mystery (Daisy Dalrymple #2)
10. Robert Evert - Betrayal in the Highlands (The Riddle in Stone #2) DONE
11. Jasper Fforde - Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2)
12. Heather Graham - Sacred Evil (Krewe of Hunters #3)
13. Charlaine Harris - Shakespeare's Trollop (Lily Bard #4) DONE
14. Carolyn Hart - Mint Julep Murder (Death on Demand #9) DONE
15. Carolyn Hart - Ghost In Trouble (Bailey Ruth #3)
16. Alice Kimberly - The Ghost and the Dead Deb (Haunted Bookshop #2)
17. Lisa Lutz - Trail of the Spellmans (Spellmans #5)
18. Charlotte MacLeod - Wrack and Rune (Peter Shandy #3) DONE
19. Sharyn McCrumb - The Songcatcher (Ballad #6)
20. Jenn McKinlay - Due Or Die (Library Lover's Mystery #2)

Teaser Tuesday # 13 - The Mangle Street Murders

I had used this book for this past Friday 56 ... and now that I'm finally getting to read it I get to use it for Teaser Tuesday, too!

The Meme

The Tease

The Book

The Mangle Street Murders by M. R. C. Kasasian

Alex Erickson's Death By Coffee

Books? Coffee? Crazy cats? Murder?

I'm in!

There's a new cozy mystery series in my life and it's Alex Erickson's Bookstore Cafe Mysteries! The first in the series, Death by Coffee, is being released today (here in the US, anyway) and I just finished reading it thanks to receiving an advanced copy from NetGalley. As always, getting the book for free had no influence on my opinion.

Krissy Hancock, daughter of mystery author James Hancock, moves to small town USA where everyone knows everyone to open a bookstore cafe with her best friend. It has pretty much everything you would expect from a fast-reading cozy: the dead guy who probably had it coming and few would miss, the almost instant romantic connection with the local law enforcement, the over-exuberant customer (who happens to be pretty much obsessed with Krissy's father), the love triangles, the gossips, the secrets ... and an amateur sleuth who can't seem to help but stick her nose into the investigation when it's originally thought to be an accidental death. Krissy's always had this problem of wanting to live like a character in one of her father's books -- often getting herself into trouble in the process. This time is no different even in spite of that romantic connection with the local law enforcement.

As I said, it was a fast read. I probably could have finished it in a day or two if I hadn't gotten distracted by that little thing called life over the weekend! It wasn't the most complicated mystery and I found that I was patting myself on the back over figuring a few things out before Krissy had (which, from time to time, is nice). All in all, though, I was extremely pleased and look forward to revisiting Krissy and her new home of Pine Hills when the second book (Death by Tea) is released in November!

The Friday 56 - The Mangle Street Murders

The past several weeks I've found myself reading ARCs when Friday has rolled around ... and I hate quoting from ARCs since you can never be sure it that's how it'll actually end up once the final edits and such are done. I'm actually reading an ARC now but I've missed Friday 56 so I picked out my next book on my phone (M.R.C Kasasian's The Mangle Street Murders) and went searching for the 56% mark for you!

Oh yeah. The rules for The Friday 56:

Rules: 

* Grab a book, any book. 

* Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (if you have to improvise, that’s okay) 

* Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grab you. 

* Post it on your blog 

* Share your post over at Freda’s Voice 

* Visit and comment on the other book blogger participants blogs 

* Make sure to post the url to your post, not your blog url; it’s that simple.

And my 56% mark blurb:

I don't even know who she IS yet and I already love her!!!