Midnight Fires: A Mystery With Mary Wollstonecraft by Nancy Means Wright

I received this book as a part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

Mary Wollstonecraft has accepted the position as governess to the King family in Ireland. In a house full of crazy children and neglectful parents, she is charged with the education of the three oldest girls. Along the way she becomes friendly with some of the Irish tenants living nearby. This leads to murder, mystery, and intrigue - all of which she is determined to unravel.

I don't know why I request, borrow, and read mystery novels. I don't particularly like them. However, this one was rather good. While it is, technically, a murder-mystery style novel, it wasn't as formulaic as others that I've read. Mary was an amazingly written character who brought back memories of a paper I'd written about her long ago in high school. Margaret, the oldest of the King girls was also very well formed. A lot of the "extras" were easy to lose along the way, though. Lord and Lady K were so ridiculous that I had a hard time believing in them. Lady K is portrayed as fairly mentally unstable - one minute thinking herself progressive and educated and the next minute acting the simpering, flirting, airhead. I was never sure if she was not a bit insane.

While there isn't a great deal of suspense, I did find myself wanting to read more whenever I had to set the book down. I was also reminded frequently of Bronte's Jane Eyre though that is likely because I'd read it recently and that it was also centered around a governess.

The book was very enjoyable and I would not hesitate in the slightest to recommend it to others. I gather there will be another novel focusing on Mary's exploits in London and I suspect I will, at the very least, borrow it from the library.

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

I have, for the most part, enjoyed every book I've read thus far by Arturo Perez-Reverte. That being said, I'm not sure I liked this one very much. I guess that I should have looked at it more carefully instead of buying it because of the author. This book is a mystery novel. I'm not a fan of classic mystery novels. The story leading up to the big confessions. Clues doled out and then the long monologue by the detective or guilty party. It's just not my thing.

Here's the premise: Julia restores artwork. She's working on a painting called The Game of Chess. There is a mystery about the people in the painting which transforms into a modern-day murder-mystery involving people she knows. Aided by her adopted father-figure Cesar and a chess player Munoz, Julia works to puzzle things out.

I liked the chess and the style of writing. Munoz was an interesting character, though I always felt that he could have been developed a little more. The chess game governing the direction of the mystery reminded me a little of Katherine Neville's books The Eight and it's sequel The Fire.

If you like mystery novels and can wrap your brain around chess moves, you'll love this book. It's a fairly quick read and definitely keeps you guessing.

French Pressed by Cleo Coyle

This was a deviation from my "normal" genres. Once upon a time I read mystery novels and decided that I didn't really like them. Apparently, not much has changed. I picked up this book while searching the library for books about coffee history.

This is the sixth book in a series, but I didn't get the feeling I was really missing anything by not having read the previous books. Clare Cosi manages a coffee house in New York. She sort-of shares the apartment above it with her ex-husband (with whom she works), but is dating a cop. Her daughter is interning at a flashy restaurant and is having an affair with the married head chief. People start turning up dead, Clare's daughter is implicated, and Clare and her boyfriend help solve the case.

The story wasn't thrilling, the characters were not all that deep, and the situations seemed somewhat ludicrous. For some reason, though, I found myself turning the pages almost eagerly. In fact, I almost want to read the rest of the series. It's like seeing the flashing lights of a police car on the side of the road - you turn your head to see what is happening, even if you don't really care.

I suppose I would recommend this book to mystery fans. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but it wasn't horribly written or anything (aside from using the term "cuppa" which just bothers the hell out of me).

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell is a Shakespearean mystery. Kate is directing Hamlet at the Globe when Roz, her mentor of old, hints at a mystery and then is murdered. Kate embarks on a crazy adventure chasing clues over four hundred years old. She is aided (and sometimes hindered) by a handful of diverse characters. Roz's words "I found something" chase Kate as she tries to outwit a killer intent on preventing her from solving the puzzle.

I originally heard of this book through a giveaway mentioned on a LibraryThing forum. The reviewer didn't seem to really enjoy the book, but for some strange reason that made me want to read it even more. The characters were decent, though I never felt that they were anything more than made up people in a book. The mystery itself was intriguing and I found myself always wanting to know what was going to happen next. Overall I enjoyed this book. Parts of it dragged and the author seem to have gotten bored partway through and changed the focus a bit.

Shakespeare's plays were never something I was fond of reading (though I do love to watch the plays performed). Somehow this story made me want to pick up a play or two and give them another try - which gives it major points in my opinion. I would happily suggest this book to people who like mysteries and historical fiction tied together.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner

I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. The description of the book led me to expect something a bit different than what I actually encountered, though. I have to say that I did not really enjoy this book. I made it through the whole thing and can honestly say that I've read worse, but it just wasn't to my taste.

To begin with, the characters are very flat. Details about them, their past, who they really are, etc. are given out only as necessary. I never felt that any of the characters were really real. By the end of the book Victor is almost three dimensional, but not quite. We know a little of his past and present - but nothing that makes you feel like you could meet him in person in real life.

Secondly, the place descriptions and scenery seemed very random to me. I know next to nothing about Paris, let alone Paris in 1889. I found the constant place association via street name to be very confusing. In addition, the Expo was depicted as an enormous circus of revelry. I couldn't help but view the majority of Paris as having been taken over by ludicrous sights and exotic vendors. Even at the conclusion of the book, I couldn't be sure that I had the proper impressions of exactly where this book too place.

Last, I think the story itself was lacking something. The plot was so basic (which isn't always a bad thing) and the end result so anti-climactic that I felt a little cheated. It was like sitting through a three hour movie that could have been adequately summed up in a half-hour television show.

Perhaps this is what a "real" mystery novel is like. I don't have a basis for comparison as I tend to read the thriller/suspense flavor of mysteries. If that's what you're looking for, this book is not for you. If you want a somewhat aloof who-done-it that doesn't require a commitment to the characters, you might enjoy this.