Brajesh's Review : Eight - The Hard Way

Eight - The Hard Way was another free e-book downloaded on my phone for commute reading. While the book didn’t turn out to be anything great, just a decent collection of mystery stories. However at the end of this book, I did realize that may be it is time for me to invest in a Kindle and also enjoy the different experience of e-books in the future.

More importantly my next phone is going to be a phablet to avoid carrying the extra Kindle during my commute. Let’s see how long this interest in e-books lasts.

Rating : 3/5

Brajesh's Review : Innocent in Las Vegas - a Tiffany Black Mystery

As part of free e-books, I attempted to read "Innocent in Las Vegas - a Tiffany Black Mystery" on the iPhone. This AR Winters book took a really long time to finish, as I was only reading it on the tube or in buses.

The book was moderately funny and an average suspense element built in it. The protagonist is a girl finding her feet in the business of Private Investigating in Los Angles and had most of the formulaic elements of the mystery.

I couldn’t relate to much of the humour and have no intentions of picking-up any more in the series.

Rating :2.5/5

Kim's Review : This Doesn't Happen in the Movies - Reed Fergurson Series

This Doesn't Happen in the Movies is the first in Renee Pawlish's - Reed Fergurson Mystery Series. Reed Fergurson is just setting up his detective agency inspite of family opposition

A wannabe private eye with a love of film noir and detective fiction.
A rich, attractive femme fatale.
A missing husband.
A rollicking ride to a dark and daring ending.

Reed Ferguson’s first case is a daring adventure, complete with a dose of film noir, and a bit of humor. With a supporting cast of the Goofball Brothers, Reed’s not too bright neighbors, and Cal, Reed’s computer geek friend, This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies is detective noir akin to Reeds cinematic hero, Humphrey Bogart.

The plot development was too slow for me, I prefer my mysteries faster paced, but noir normally tends to slow the pace down.

Even allowing for that, I often wanted to slap Reed on the back of his head, for not figuring things out faster. Thats not a good sign, so I might just skip the rest of the series unless I can brave mysefl into readig another one while trying to fall asleep.

Rating : 2.75/5

Kim's Review : The Hanover Square Affair - Captain Lacey Series

The Hanover Square Affair is the first in Ashley Gardner's Captain Lacey Series set in the Regency Era. Its currently available as a free download on kindle, iBooks and Google Play.

London, 1816
An impoverished cavalry captain returns injured from the Napoleonic / Peninsular wars at odds with himself. Then a missing girl possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament and her distraught father set Captain Gabriel Lacey into investigating the dark underbelly of Regency London.

Lacey's search leads him on a merry chase to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He faces his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world while making new friends, from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden and enemies too.

Captain Lacey tries his best to be an honourable man in a less-than-honourable society, one in which wealth, privilege and position are always right. So, he fights for the underdog, the forgotten, the neglected. He does come across as a very strong character.

Plot development is really good, but there were some characters like Janet Ingram and the widow Dawson, who I'm not sure why they were even brought into the story, I'm not sure if they become major characters in the later books, but their miniscule guest appearances in this book, were distracting.

Other than this, I quite enjoyed the read. The insight into society in the 1800's is often uncomfortable, but essential to the plot.

I think Ashley has come out with 9 books in the series so far. I look forward to reading some of the others as Captain Lacey inspite of his quirks and easy temper, is quite an endearing hero.

Rating : 4.25 / 5

Kim's review : The Good Knight (Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery)

The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury is part of her Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery series. This was the first time I was reading a tale set in Wales, added to that was the fact that it was Historical Fiction and a mystery to boot. Quite a potent combination.

The story is set in the court of Owain, the King of North Wales in 1143AD with a bit of the action spilling over into Ireland. Its not easy to find fiction set in Wales (or maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places), so it was an absolute pleasure to discover this book.

The kingdom is preparing for the marriage of the daughter of King Owain with an allied King Anarawd. But the groom is murdered on the way to his wedding. Gareth - a knight, and Gwen - the daughter of the exiled court bard — are tasked by the brides brother with bringing the killer to justice.

Behind-the-scene political machinations, intrigue, rivalry and suspicion run amok and suddenly the blame for the murder falls on Gareth himself, leaving Gwen to continue her search alone, until Gwen finds herself kidnapped and held to ransom.

There is a hint of a romance in this book, but its not too integral to the story. Think early seasons of Castle or Bones.

There are some mysteries hinted at in this book, which are covered in the prequel - The Bard's Daughter - the setting of that book is how Gwen turns into a spy / sleuth.

The pronunciation guide and the historical map of Wales are a good bonus at the start of the book.

I read that Ellis Peters is the author to read for believable medieval detective work and his "The Summer of the Danes" is set in the same time period. So I'm going to have to pick that one up next now.

Rating : 3.75 / 5