If you read my last blog, then you know I wrote about
another Aunt Dimity book, Aunt Dimity
& the Widow’s Curse by Nancy Atherton. I admit, I really enjoy these
books. Aunt Dimity & the King’s
Ransom however, was a bit different than I expected. Most mysteries I read
revolve around a murder and who committed the crime. This one did not.
Bill needs to go see a client, who won’t come to his office,
so he decides to combine business with pleasure by offering his wife, Lori a
romantic weekend away. She drops him at the client’s house, then gets
sidetracked by a cyclone. As she’s trying to drive to the hotel where they have
a reservation, the rain gets so bad, her window wipers can’t keep up and she’s
forced to take a detour to a closer town. The next problem she
faces is that there’s no room at the inn. The hotel is full of French tourists
who should have been on their way hours earlier, but one of them was missing
when it was time to go. The owners have an attic space she can use, but she’ll
have to help clean it up a bit and make her own bed.
The mystery in this book revolves around strange noises
heard in the hotel at night and who or what are making those noises. Are the
resident ghosts causing problems or are living people the problem? While I was
initially disappointed by the lack of a crime to be solved, in hindsight, that
makes the book a little more fun and relaxing. It’s not easy for an author to
write a mystery with no murder, but still keep you wanting to know how it’s
going to end.
Someone to Honor by
Mary Balogh is a romance novel that starts with a good premise. When Gilbert
Bennington and Abigail Westcott meet, they each make assumptions about the other
and behave according to those assumptions till they learn they’re wrong. Then
they’re both embarrassed and insofar as possible, avoid each other for a few
days. That’s where the tension between the two slows down till it grinds to a
halt. The author had lots of room for ramping up the will they/won’t they get
together that we normally see in romance novels, but fails to do so. It was
fairly obvious to me that the couple would wind up together.
There’s literally nothing keeping them apart. In fact, their
decision to marry comes because of something her brother says in regards to a
child custody case Gilbert is involved in. His child from a previous marriage
was dropped off at his in-laws without his permission while his wife went
traipsing around from party to party until she died. He was off fighting for
his country and was unable to come home at that time. Then when the war’s over,
he’s sent to guard Napoleon, so he’s gone from his child’s life for about two
years total. When he finally gets home, the in-laws refused to turn his child
over to him or even to allow him to see her. What actually causes him to ask
her to marry him is a letter from his lawyer saying that it would help his case
if could show the court that he’s remarried, so the child will have a new
mother. I stuck it out because I wanted to see what would happen in the custody
case, but I kept hoping for more tension or obstacles to Gilbert and Abigail’s
relationship. I was severely disappointed in that regard.
In fact, I know this book is part of a series and after
reading this one, I won’t be looking for the others or any other books by this
author. I almost felt like I found more tension in some of the case law I read
while training to be a Paralegal several years ago.
Rome: A History in Seven
Sackings by Matthew Kneale, seemed like a good read. I enjoy history. I
like looking at how people lived in the past and reading about the way they
dressed or their customs at the time.
My problem with this book, and I should have realized this
before I brought it home, is that it was centered on combat. Fighting of any
kind is really not my thing. I mean my favorite online games either don’t
involve fighting or have skills that are not combat related, so why I thought
reading a book about Rome being sacked more than once was a good idea is beyond
me.
I will say this though, what little I did read seems to be
fairly well written and thoroughly researched. He does mention that there is so
much Roman history that he had to pick and choose what to write about as a
complete history would take several volumes. I suspect years and years of
research and work, too.
I realize that so far, I’ve written primarily about
mysteries and romance, with one history book thrown in, but I am planning to
read other books. I have a back log of books from the library right now, but as
I work my way through them, I plan to start requesting books I have in my “To
Be Read” list. I hope you’re enjoying my blog.
Next time: Duel to the
Death by J.A. Jance and other titles to be determined.
No comments:
Post a Comment