Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she's managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It's a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director's luxury building. Now she's at the center of a crime scene-and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster and step into the role she was born to play: cop. ( Synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Penguin, 400 pages 

Celebrity in Death is the latest book in the Eve Dallas series and it is almost contemplative compared to some of the earlier books. Eve is the subject of a vid that is being made based on Nadine Furst’s book about the Icove case.  A dinner has been planned with the cast members and their real life counterparts to celebrate the near completion of the movie. As usual, Eve is grumpy about getting dressed up and having to attend a fancy social function. All of that changes when one of the actors ends up dead and Eve and Peabody have to solve the murder.

The victim, K.T. Harris, was disliked by everyone who worked with her and even had a tussle with Eve during the dinner. She was playing Peabody in the vid and her resemblance causes Eve and the rest of the NYPSD staff some moments of unease. AS they dig deeper into her life and death, they discover that K.T. had lots of secrets and was doing her best to disrupt the lives of her co-workers by various methods such as blackmail and coercion. It seems to Eve and Peabody that everyone has a motive and with the majority of the suspects being actors it is going to be difficult to really find out what happened.

This book has less of the action that earlier books had but more introspection into Eve and Roarke’s lives. Peabody and McNab have their special moments as well. Eve is moving on from the events that happened in Texas and coming to some measure of peace.  Roarke still worries about Eve but looks back on his life and realizes how much balance Eve brought to him. Their relationship just keeps getting stronger and more loving.  There are thirty four books in this series and they only cover a little over two years which adds to the continuity of Eve’s relationships both personal and work related.  The overlying theme of this book is about choices and how making a certain choice at a particular time has caused events to happen in each of the lives of the characters in the book. This is also the means that Eve uses to finally solve the murder-looking at choices made and how that person’s life was affected by them. It all ties together and makes this a satisfying addition to the series

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.(Synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Random House, 448 pages

Poppy Wyatt’s day is really going badly.  She has lost the antique betrothal ring her fiancé Magnus gave her and her phone has been stolen.  She thinks her luck has changed when she finds a perfectly good phone stuck in the waste bin and so she confiscates it.  The phone rings, she answers it pretending to be an automated reply, listens to a cryptic message, and writes it down on an old Lion King program.

The phone belongs to Sam Roxton ( or his PA) and he lets Poppy know that he wants the phone back but she refuses.  She agrees that she will forward all of his messages until she no longer needs the phone.  Thus begins a relationship that is quirky to say the least.  As Poppy gets more and more into Sam’s life via his phone, she starts meddling with good, and sometimes bad, results. In the meantime, Poppy is dealing with the lost ring, her not so happy future in-laws, and a bridal planner from h*ll.

Sam helps with the ring debacle and little by little Poppy becomes part of his life. Sam has some heavy stuff going on at his workplace which Poppy may be able to help him with. There are some interesting twists towards the end of the book.

This is a lovely story of two people literally falling into love.  There is sweetness to the relationship which makes the story easy to read. Both characters are likeable (maybe not Sam at first) and they find themselves leaning on each other for support with their problems. The secondary characters are fleshed out and add a lot to the book.  I especially liked the little footnotes on the bottom of the pages.

This is my favorite Kinsella book since Can You Keep a Secret.

The Garden Intrigue ( Pink Carnation # 9) by Lauren Willig

Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can't bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.
New York-born Emma Morris Delagardie is a thorn in Augustus's side. An old school friend of Napoleon's stepdaughter, she came to France with her uncle, the American envoy; eloped with a Frenchman; and has been rattling around the salons of Paris ever since. Widowed for four years, she entertains herself by drinking too much champagne, holding a weekly salon, and loudly critiquing Augustus's poetry.
As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, Whittlesby hears of a top-secret device to be demonstrated at a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is with Emma, who has been asked to write a masque for the weekend's entertainment.
Emma is at a crossroads: Should she return to the States or remain in France? She'll do anything to postpone the decision-even if it means teaming up with that silly poet Whittlesby to write a masque for Bonaparte's house party. But each soon learns that surface appearances are misleading. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing goes quite as scripted- especially Augustus's feelings for Emma. ( synopsis from Amazon.com)

Dutton, Hardcover, 400 pages

Emma Delagardie is an American living in France during the Napoleonic era.  She is a longtime friend of the emperor’s stepdaughter, Hortense and has entrée to the court. Augustus Whittlesby is an excruciatingly bad poet who is also an agent in the Pink Carnation’s network. He and the Pink Carnation have a mission to discover what the newest plot of Napoleon’s is to attack Britain. It apparently involves some sort of new mechanical weaponry and it is essential that they find out. Whittlesby must ingratiate himself into Emma’s circle so he can have access to the right people. Emma is not happy about having to work with Augustus when she becomes responsible for a masque to celebrate Napoleon’s rumored ascension from First Consul to Emperor. Gradually the two discover that they have more than the masque in common and feelings change.  There is added stress to the relationship from Emma’s American relatives trying to pressure her to come back home and a French rogue who is pressuring her to marry him. Augustus has his work cut out for him both in the spy game and in his budding romance.

One of the interesting plot devices that Ms. Willig uses in this series is the going back and forth from the time of the Pink Carnation to modern day England.  By having American researcher Eloise Kelly doing research on the fabled Pink Carnation and having access to the historical papers of the Selwick family, you get to see another perspective on the main couple of the story. I enjoy the story between Eloise and Colin Selwick which has worked its way through all nine books.  While the main story has a resolution, the relationship between Eloise and Colin remains in flux.

I enjoyed the introduction of some American history in this book with Fulton’s steam engine making an appearance. Emma and Augustus have a view of the turmoil that was going on during this particular time in French history and as always Ms. Willig weaves accurate historical facts into a wonderful romance with a hint of mystery. When I finish each book in the series I can’t wait for the next one to come out!

Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies.

Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love?

The follow-up to reader favorite Austenland provides the same perfectly plotted pleasures, with a feisty new heroine, plenty of fresh and frightening twists, and the possibility of a romance that might just go beyond the proper bounds of Austen's world. How could it not turn out right in the end? ( synopsis from B&N.com)

Bloomsbury, Hardcover, 272 pages

Charlotte Kinder’s marriage has gone kaput and she starts reading Jane Austen as a diversion. Her two children are spending their vacation with their father and his new wife so Charlotte decides to go on her own vacation. She ends up going to England and being part of a reenactment type of trip located at Pembrook Park, a stately home.  Reborn as Charlotte Cordial, a widow, she embarks on her adventure. She is one of six guests and is matched with Mr. Mallery, a  moody but hunky gentleman.

As part of the entertainment, the three couples are part of a mystery involving a long ago event at a local abbey, and parts of the story are doled out over several nights. Unfortunately for Charlotte, it suddenly becomes all too real for her and she is left wondering what is really happening at Pembrook Park.  Who can she rely on for help?

I always have wanted to go on one of these Austen trips so the whole premise of this book intrigued me. Charlotte is an interesting character, not the typical dumpee. She has a successful business and seems to be a pretty intelligent woman who ignored the signs that her marriage was imploding. On her vacation she has the typical reactions one would being in a strange country, acting out another period of time, and finding oneself in the middle of something very unsettling. The mystery factor is ramped up in this book and the romance takes a back seat but still has a satisfying conclusion. Ms. Hale solves an obvious problem with a simple but effective plot twist so all can end well.  I enjoyed the first book in the series and this one was just as good.

Compulsively Mr. Darcy by Nina Benneton

For anyone obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, it's Darcy and Elizabeth like you've never see them before!

This modern take introduces us to the wealthy philanthropist Fitzwilliam Darcy, a handsome and brooding bachelor who yearns for love but doubts any woman could handle his obsessive tendencies. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Bennet has her own intimacy issues that ensure her terrible luck with men.

When the two meet up in the emergency room after Darcy's best friend, Charles Bingley, gets into an accident, Elizabeth thinks the two men are a couple. As Darcy and Elizabeth unravel their misconceptions about each other, they have to decide just how far they're willing to go to accept each other's quirky ways... (synopsis from B&N.com)

Sourcebooks, Trade Paperback, 352 pages

When I read the summary for this book, I was a little leery of reading it.  I was worried the Darcy character would be ruled by his OCD and be less romantic.  Boy was I wrong! In this wonderful adaptation by Nina Benneton, Darcy’s OCD is sensitively handled; Darcy is a man with OCD but he is not defined by it.

Darcy and Bingley have come to Vietnam to help his sister and brother in law, the Hurst’s, finalize an adoption at an orphanage managed by Jane Bennett.  Bingley injures his leg horsing around and ends up at the hospital. Darcy goes with him but doesn’t go inside (one of his quirks) until it seems to him that too much time has gone by and he goes in to give someone what-for.  He ends up blundering into a surgery setup, gets into a tussle with the surgeon, sees Bingley’s bloody leg and takes a facer onto the floor.  Guess who the surgeon is?

After this inauspicious beginning, Darcy and Elizabeth develop a friendship that quickly goes deeper. Misunderstandings abound, nasty relatives and enemies do their best to break up the couple, and things go very badly. Just as in the book from which this novel is adapted, people make assumptions about other people and misread situations which lead to the relationship troubles.

I loved that way Ms. Benneton worked in the characters from the original book and from other Jane Austen books as well.  Some of the characters follow a similar path as the original version, but others go a different direction and it all works. Elizabeth and Darcy have a strong relationship that overcomes their own mistrust and outside influences. The bad people get punished and when you read the last page you think to yourself…. That was really an enjoyable read!  I hope that we will see more from Ms. Benneton

Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James

A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem.

It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.

Then, on the eve of the ball, the patrician idyll is shattered. A coach careens up the drive carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who with her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been banned from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the carriage, hysterical, shrieking that Wickham has been murdered. With shocking suddenness, Pemberley is plunged into a frightening mystery. (synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Knopf Doubleday, 304 pages


I am a total sucker for any Austenesque book and I enjoyed reading this one. The setting is clever, Darcy and Elizabeth are getting ready to host the annual Lady Anne Ball and Lydia shows up in a carriage having a hsterical fit. Wickham and Captain Denny have had some sort of disagreement and left the carriage to go off in the woods, shots rang out and Lydia panicked and made the coachman take her to Pemberley ( uninvited  of course). Darcy, col Fitzwilliam and some footmen head out and find Captain Denny now dead and Wickham claiming it was his fault. The ball gets cancelled and the Darcy's are thrown in the middle of a murder. Darcy finds himself in the unwanted position of having to provide assistance to keep his brother-in-law from hanging and having to try to find out what really happened.
The premise is clever and I liked the way little snippets of other Austen books are worked into this story, ie Wickham worked for a short time for Sir Walter Eliot ( Persuasion).  Ms. James fills in a lot of the backstory of Pride and Prejudice from the Darcy side and that was fun. However, parts of the story plod along and the ending is a little contrived. That said, as an Austen fan I enjoyed reading it and overlooked the negatives. Wickham and Lydia are just as one would have expected them to be and it's nice to see what has happened to the P&P characters years later.

Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz

A rare book. An ancient code. An all-new novel from the New York Times-bestselling master of passion and the paranormal.

Within the pages of very rare books some centuries old lie the secrets of the paranormal. Abby Radwell's unusual psychic talent has made her an expert in such volumes-and sometimes taken her into dangerous territory. After a deadly incident in the private library of an obsessive collector, Abby receives a blackmail threat, and rumors swirl that an old alchemical text known as The Key has reappeared on the black market.

Convinced that she needs an investigator who can also play bodyguard, she hires Sam Coppersmith, a specialist in paranormal crystals and amber-"hot rocks." Passion flares immediately between them, but neither entirely trusts the other. When it comes to dealing with a killer who has paranormal abilities, and a blackmailer who will stop at nothing to obtain an ancient alchemical code, no one is safe.( Synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Putnam, 352 pages

Copper Beach is the start of a new paranormal suspense series, A Dark Legacy . Abby Radwell is a bookseller working primarily with private collectors. She has the power to take psychic energy from book and use it to disable people but primarily she uses her senses to find “hot books” for her carefully vetted clients. She gets involved in the search for a lab book with tremendous energy potential and needs help with a blackmailer-enter Sam Coppersmith. Sam comes from a family that has a long history of paranormal work and research. Added to his background with an unnamed government agency and he is the perfect man for Abby-personally and professionally. There is a lot of chemistry between the two characters and they get involved with each other and the search for the book right from the beginning. Abby is being pressured to find the book by her family and possibly also from an unknown blackmailer. Sam's father was involved in the beginning of the experiment that created the lab book and Sam knows the consequences should it fall into the wrong hands. Floating around in the background is the mystery of how Sam’s ex-fiancé ended up dead, why Abby’s family needs her to find the lab book, and who the mysterious blackmailer is. The suspense of the story keeps you turning page after to page to see what will happen next. This book is a bit of a departure from her Arcane series but just as enjoyable.