Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

Review by Cyn F. (Cyn-Sama)

Cachu sanctaidd! Ei fod yn arwr Cymreig! Or, for those of us not lucky to be born speaking Welsh – Holy shoot! A Welsh hero! Normally, in historic romances, you have either a member of the British aristocracy, or if they want to go for something more exotic, an Irish or Scottish lord. Poor Wales gets ignored like a forgotten cousin.

Being of Welsh ancestry, (second generation American here!), I have longed to see a Welshman take center stage. I’m so happy that it was one of my favorite authors that did the research and created the character of Rhys Winterborne. (Pronounced Reece/Reese.) A self made man who earned his money through a successful department store in London.

In the book that started this series, Cold Hearted Rake, Winterborne became engaged to Lady Hellen Ravenel, until a series of misunderstandings broke them apart.

When we start the book, we have Lady Hellen breaking all the rules of polite society, by going to see Winterborne, alone, at his private office. For those of you not familiar with romance tropes, or the history of British social mores, a young woman, without an escort would have her reputation ripped to shreds. While it is a bit of an overused plot device, Kleypas handles it with her usual grace and charm.

Throwing subtle humor in with charming family relations has been successful in her past few series, namely the Wallflowers, and the Hathaways. I just eat them up. While there are certainly some erotic moments, reading her books is like taking a bubble bath. Warm and comforting. In fact I usually reread them at least once a year, it’s kind of like visiting an old friend. The book is peppered with a few Welsh phrases, and in case you couldn’t tell, that left me grinning ear to ear. She does provide the translations in the back of the book, but you can pretty much figure out what Winterborne is saying through the context.

If you are not familiar with Lisa Kleypas, and enjoy historic romances, I would really suggest starting with the Wallflowers series, which starts with Secrets of a Summer Night. The books take place in roughly in the same time period, and the characters pop up throughout the different series. Most of her other books take place in the same universe, and I love them all. I just think that the Wallflowers are a good introduction to her style of writing. I found the book to be delightful, and I’ll be going nuts waiting until next February for the sequel to come out.

The Lion’s Share by Karin Shah

Review by Cynthia F. (frazerc)

First off – I loved it. I hadn’t read the first two in the series but that is being quickly remedied. This is an action-based paranormal read that manages to grip the reader on an emotional level as well. Although the action is pretty non-stop you rapidly come to empathize with the hero and later the heroine. I’m not sure how to talk about the plot without leaving spoilers but there are plot twists that the reader doesn’t see coming and there is a very satisfying ending.

On a general note, I read a lot of paranormal and shifter stories but this is the first time I’ve found one using chimeras. I mean, three forms? Lion, dragon and [ultra-yummy] human? How cool is that??

I liked the hero – he and his brother thought shifters were some fantasy thing that belonged in the movies; at least until they became shifters themselves. Loyalty to their foster brother gets them into trouble; first in the army and then later. And by trouble I mean being blackmailed into committing a felony and meeting your mate in the process – your FBI agent mate…

The heroine is a tough agent with skills and determination and absolutely no intention of getting caught in a no-win situation with some gorgeous perp who just happens to look like a carbon copy of a childhood friend. Fate must have a real sense of humor…

A word of warning however – this is a real page-turner. Do not start late at night, or when your in-laws or coming for dinner, or when you have to get your kids to soccer…

The Chimera Chronicles series

In Like a Lion

Entity Mine

The Lion’s Share

[Coming in July – Ty’s story]

Lion’s Prey

Murder a la Mode by Patricia Moyes

Review by Matt B. (buffalosavage)

The smell of bitter almonds tells series hero Inspector Tibbett that it’s homicide. Who would want to murder an assistant editor at a fashion magazine?

Moyes usually takes readers into subcultures, realms of their own. In Death on the Agenda, the setting is an international convention of narcotics cops. In what some call her best mystery, Falling Star, it is a movie set.

In this one, Moyes returns to a chaotic but irresistible setting, the world of fashion peopled by beautiful if dim models, pressed career women, and the creative types that are irascible and short with anybody or anything that gets between them and Their Vision. The fashion world is as convincing as the movie set in Falling Star. Moyes had worked as a PA to actor and director Peter Ustinov, so she knew about the production and business pressures of movie making. She is knowledgeable about publishing a fashion magazine because she was an assistant editor at Vogue for a time. Moyes effectively evokes the pre-Twiggy swinging London of the early Sixties.

Moyes wrote 19 mysteries and many short stories starring the main characters of Scotland Yard Inspector Henry Tibbett and his wife and Emmy. The helpmeet Emmy does not appear as a major character in this one, however. This, I think, is the first appearance of Emmy’s sister Jane, brother-in-law Bill and niece Veronica, a model, all of whom show up in the other Tibbett novels.

I don’t like to think that I read cozy mysteries, but I guess I have to say this is a cozy because it is in the old whodunit tradition: amusing prose, persuasive witty characters, a little romance, a genial series hero, a well-plotted puzzle, all the suspects gathered in the same place, a surprise reveal and that smell of bitter almonds.

This novel won rave reviews when it was first published in 1963. Critic Anthony Boucher (said like “voucher”) compared it to the best of Marsh, Allingham, and Blake.

Murder in High Place by R. B. Dominic

Review by Matt B. (buffalosavage)

When combative Karen Jenks is recalled from a small South American country where she was conducting research for her master’s thesis, she demands that her congressman help clear her name. Her rep in D.C. is series hero Benton “Ben” Safford (D., OH). He starred in seven mysteries between 1968 and 1983. This novel is the second in the series.

Ben’s default setting is to do his best by his southern Ohio constituents. So, only reluctantly does he get involved in a matter that touches on foreign affairs. Just before a meeting at which he was going to discuss Jenks’ case, a foreign aid bureaucrat is bashed on the head and tossed out a window.

Ben and his staff are also put in the poor position by Karen Jenks, who is beautiful, bright, and noisily suspicious of everything and everyone. Her obnoxious character is strong and attractive in a novel of vividly drawn insufferable characters. Also, many sensitivities and interests complicate matters for Ben’s office, the country’s embassy, the State Department, and the Washington police.

The reader gets the feeling of being privy to a closed world of insiders. However, given the novel was published in 1970, it feels like an artifact of a bygone age. Political disagreement is not a barrier to personal respect and friendship, an idea that seems quaint in our era of the institutionalized partisan divide.

The light tone is urbane and droll, the dialog suave and amusing. This is only what we would anticipate from R. B. Dominic, which was the pen name of two American businesswomen, economist Mary Jane Latsis (1927 –1997) and lawyer Martha Henissart (1929 – ). They also wrote under the name of Emma Lathen, with the series hero John Putnam Thatcher, a Wall Street investment banker before that job title became synonymous with “scoundrel.”