An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch

This is book #7 of the Charles Lenox mystery series. This book gets back to what I love about this series (and was missing from book #6). First of all, there are some laugh-out-loud moments. Not only did Lenox remind us that he has a sense of humor, but his "partner in crime", John Dallington, also had some humorous comments. Lenox also proved his loyalty to the people he cares about, even when public opinion was entirely negative and outward appearances seemed to support the rumors. Lenox doesn't jump to conclusions (which is a really important characteristic if you are a detective!) even when things don't look good at all. This happened twice in this book, once with Graham and once with Thomas.

Dallington pulls Lenox into this latest mystery by asking him to cover for him. Dallington is ill for a lot of this book, which gives Lenox an excuse to play detective. Lenox still has his increasing responsibilities being a member of the Parliament, but you can tell that his true love is crime-solving and not spending hours and hours reading political blue books. Lenox meets a young woman who is being blackmailed, but no one seems to know by who and what the end goal is. Then there are two surprising murders, which makes it even more unclear about who the murderer is and what the murderer wants. What I liked about this story is that the clues are all there. When Lenox figures the majority of it out, he connects all the clues together for our benefit, but he is repeating things he found odd when he first saw them. 

Even after the "bad guys" are caught, there are always follow-up inquiries and research that must happen to truly figure out why things happened the way they did. This seems more unique to this series than other mystery series I read. Realistically, some things are hard to prove. This book supports that. I look forward to the next book since Lenox will be back full-time doing what he loves most.

Wendy's Rating: ****

A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch

This is the sixth installment of the Charles Lenox mystery series set in Victorian-era London. My favorite, so far, was #5, A Burial at Sea, and that still holds true. I enjoyed "catching up" with Lenox, now that he is married to Jane and has a daughter, Sophie, but in this book he is heavily into politics and his political position instead of "sleuthing". Obviously, Lenox gets caught up in a case, though, otherwise it wouldn't be a mystery.

Charles, Jane & Sophie take a trip to his uncle's estate, Somerset, so that Charles can write an important political speech without interruption. It just so happens that his uncle had previously invited him to come for a visit because there was some vandalism going on in town that the local police couldn't figure out the significance of. So, this visit was a "kill two birds with one stone" kind of thing. Once Charles gets to Somerset and gets settled in, there is a murder in town. So then the local police really need his help. Charles alternates between interviewing townspeople, assembling clues, riding a horse to start each day refreshed, and writing his speech.

There were a couple of things that were too repetitive for my taste in this particular book. First of all, Lenox goes on and on and on about how beautiful Somerset is, how beautiful and freeing it is to live in the country (vs London), how much he loves the fresh air and taking Sophie for walks. I kept thinking that he was considering a move out of London - for the health of his family. He also was very upset that his uncle was planning to leave Somerset soon, giving it to his heir. Even Jane couldn't persuade Charles to "let it go". That got to me after awhile. I mean, who is Charles to dictate what his aging (60! Ha!) uncle wants to do? Maybe he is not up to maintaining a huge estate anymore. Maybe he simply doesn't want to!!

Anyway, Charles solves the vandalism case and the murder case, which were connected of course. But why it all happened was a little too "out there" for me. Were there clues? Yes, of course. Did I pick up on them? Not really. They were too varied and not attached in my mind. So it's always fun to see how it all comes together, but in the end, Charles, Jane and Sophie return to London and Charles presses on with his political career. Apparently, no matter how much they love the country, they have no plans to buy something in the country. (So why go on and on about how much they love it?)

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Since historical fiction is one of my favorite genre's it's no surprise that I loved this book. I have already read two of Marie Benedict's other books (Carnegie's Maid and The Other Einstein), which I also loved. What's not to love about historical women who were extremely intelligent and bold in times that women were supposed to be "barefoot and pregnant". I have great admiration for these women who could not be kept in the box that society assigned them. What's even better, Belle da Costa Greene was renowned for her intelligence and expertise. She did not have to "hide behind a man". JP Morgan let her take charge of his library.

Belle da Costa Greene (nee Belle Marion Greener) was an African American whose father was the first Black graduate of Harvard and spent his life fighting for equality.  Things were looking promising in the years after the Civil War in that regard, but white supremacy and segregation prevailed by the early 1900s. Belle's mother saw the way the nation was headed and made the decision to have her family pass as "white" to give them the best chance possible to be successful.  Belle and her brother had olive-toned skin, the darkest of the family, so they assigned themselves a Portuguese heritage to account for their skin tone. Belle's three sisters had fairer skin, especially the youngest girl Teddy. Belle's father left the family because of this decision, so Belle and her siblings lived with their mother in New York.

Belle was a fascinating woman. She made the decision to be as bold as possible in the public eye so that she was hiding in plain sight. She made herself indispensable to JP Morgan, which was both good and bad. He felt like he "owned" her, which was ironic of course. But the two of them together build a remarkable library - with his money and her intelligence about original manuscripts and artwork. When JP Morgan died unexpectedly and his son, Jack Morgan, took over the library, Belle had to work especially hard to get Jack to understand the cultural relevance of the library instead of him just seeing the library as an "asset" that could be sold off bit by bit when they needed money. Belle was able to fulfill her dream of opening up the JP Morgan Library to the public.

Women who are brilliant in business are not always brilliant in love, however. It drove me crazy that Belle kept going back to Bernard Berenson, a married man who had an "open marriage". He was a schemer and a coward and treated Belle horribly at times. But this appears to be the only man that Belle truly loved in her lifetime. Go figure.

Wendy's Rating: *****

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

I love novels with intelligent, courageous and truth-seeking female protagonists. Jules Roth is a young, talented investigative journalist who talks her way into a job working for the leading investigative reporter, Dan Mansfield. Dan trust Jules instinctively and assigns her to a special project right out of the shoot. Dan has been hired by a famous and wealthy fashion designer (shoes), Ellis Baum, to find a painting ("Woman on Fire") of his mother from the early 1940s, during the peak of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Both the artist (Ernst Engel) and Ellis' mother were killed by the Nazis after the painting was finished. Being the last painting of this famous artist, it's considered extremely valuable. Ellis, of course, doesn't care about the monetary value of the painting. He wants the painting because it's of his mother, who he witnessed being murdered by the Nazi soldiers when he was a young boy. Hitler wanted to destroy certain artwork during his reign, especially impressionist paintings by famous artists. Other valuable artwork he wanted for himself. Others tried to stop this theft and destruction by taking and hiding art from the Nazis.

In every good story with a strong protagonist, there has to be a strong antagonist of course. In this case, it's Margaux de Laurent. Margaux owns several renowned galleries. She is beautiful, intelligent, ruthless and a psychopath. She destroys everything and everyone in her path if they get in her way. She uses seduction (men & women), drugs, threats, whatever it takes to get what she wants. Since Margaux' father (recently deceased) spent the family fortune on drugs and alcohol and "having a good time", Margaux' galleries are struggling financially and she is deep in debt. At one point after the death of Ernst Engel, her grandfather had possession of "Woman on Fire" and Margaux is in possession of the paperwork saying that the painting had been signed over to her grandfather. Margaux decides that she is the rightful owner of this painting and she will stop at nothing to get her hands on it.

Not only is this book incredibly interesting, delving into the art world during Hitler's reign and the aftermath, but it's a fast-paced thriller with several moving parts. This is a gritty story and parts of it were not easy to read. I am still upset by one particular event. All said and done however, the journey was fascinating and the ending was satisfying.

Wendy's Rating: *****

Gobbledy by Lis Anna-Langston

This story is geared toward younger children (certainly pre-teen). It's a cute tale about 11 year old friends, Dexter and Fi (Fiona) who find a golden rock and electric mushrooms out in the forest near their homes. Dexter brings the golden rock home with him in a jar that contained some crickets for his science project. Once home, Dexter's younger brother, Dougal, joins the adventures. The golden rock transforms into a creature that's a cross between "a prairie dog, a chinchilla, and a cartoon." He gobbles every bit of food within his reach. Therefore, they name him Gobbledy. Gobbledy is actually an alien life form. The planet he came from is barren and the aliens he arrived with to earth (aka golden rocks) did not make it. There is one exception - another golden rock that Dexter finds later on and Gobbledy carries around with him in a Pet Rock carrier, but it never transforms into anything. I'm not sure why.

There are two "bad men" from the Planetary Society that try to take Gobbledy from Dexter, and they eventually succeed. Dexter, Fi, Dougal, and Fi's older sister, Fran, have an adventure together (because Fran is the only one old enough to drive) when they try to get Gobbledy back from the thieves who simply want Gobbledy to exploit him for money. Fortunately, Gobbledy outsmarts the Planetary Society with one of his hidden talents of "invisibility".

In addition to the various activities involving Gobbledy, Dexter, Dougal and their father are trying to adjust to a new life without their mother/wife. She died several months previously and the family is struggling. Dad works a ton of hours (at the ketchup factory), which allows his sons to participate in all their shenanigans with Gobbledy. But they are all sad and don't know how to celebrate Christmas (her favorite holiday) without her. Gobbledy actually helps with this one night, after he secretly decorates their undecorated tree and builds a "village" out of household supplies/trash in front of the tree. Dad is super touched by this, thinking that Dexter and Dougal did it themselves. Their mother/wife was in the process of building a village upstairs in the attic before she died.

Again, this is a cute story for younger children.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Skinny Dipping in a Dirty Pond by Lis Anna-Langston

As I was reading this book I thought to myself, "This author must have experienced some of the things she is writing about." Well, I didn't realize until after I was done with the book and reading the Author's Note that it's mostly autobiographical. She was told to change the "ending" because her actual true-life story (at the point the book ended) was too depressing. So there's that.

The author did change the name of some of her family members. The story is narrated by Cotton, starting shortly before her third birthday. Cotton meets Dave, her mother's boyfriend, at the point the story starts. Dave is an integral and significant person in Cotton's life. I was skeptical at first because Dave was a drug dealer - and he made a lot of money doing it. But he seemed to genuinely love Cotton and he certainly took care of her a lot better than her mother! Cotton's mother was an addict and not at all interested in being a mother. Fortunately, the other two positive people in Cotton's life were her grandmother and uncle Stan. 

They always say that it only takes one person to positively change the direction of someone's life. This is a true life example of that. It also helped that Cotton (aka the author) was an intelligent and precocious child. There were significant mental health issues and/or addiction issues in Cotton's family. Everyone seemed to be "undiagnosed" as well, which could just be a sign of the times. Both of Cotton's uncles, who lived with their mother (Cotton's grandmother) heard voices. One was dangerous and one was kind, but depressed. No one worked. Dave supported Cotton & her mother (through his illegal drug money transactions). Cotton's uncles & grandmother lived off money they inherited after Cotton's grandfather died.

This is a mostly tragic story that is written with emotion and humor, through the eyes of a child that has no control over her life. I seriously laughed out loud at times and once I openly cried. I positively loved Cotton and how she handled her deeply dysfunctional family and her frighteningly challenging life. The narrative flowed nicely and it's a well-written novel. I completely admire people that can survive, and even thrive, against all odds.

Wendy's Rating: *****