Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

This is the second mystery with Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen Brent (Bundle). Of all Christie's female characters, I like Bundle the most. Fun, feisty and daring - she's the most engaging youthful character in all of Christie's books.

A group of friends staying in the country set eight alarm clocks to wake up a chronically oversleeping friend... this sets in motion murder, conspiracy and a race for Bundle to find the seven dials and stop whatever dastardly plans they have for England.

Elizabeth Norris - Unraveling (2012)

This book started out poorly - Janelle Tenner gets hit by a truck, dies and is brought back to life by a boy in the same grade at her high school, Ben Michaels. As she is magically healed she shares his memories of her and realises he has loved her since he was 10 years old - sound familiar? It's book 1 of the Roswell series.

Then everything got interesting - radiation deaths, an explosive device counting down, earthquakes, multiverse and a murdered FBI father. It started to become a really good book and I'd actually forgiven Norris for the beginning. Until I got to the ending. That was just AWFUL.

Talk about deus ex machina.

Mysterious men from a parallel universe pop in and shoot the bad guy just in time, the same teenage bad guy who'd murdered Janelle's father and best friend. His other two friends, one of whom is Ben, are just allowed to go home to their parallel universe AFTER killing hundreds of people in Janelle's universe. Everyone just left Janelle in a remote location with the body of her best friend even though she couldn't phone for help because the city was destroyed by an earthquake and everyone was struggling to survive. Worse - Janelle just happily sits there and thinks how wonderful life is and how much she wants to live it with Ben. Hopefully the FBI found her and locked her up as an accessory to getting hundreds of people dead because she withheld so much information from them because of her "love" for Ben.

As endings go that one really sucked. What an utterly disappointing book.

Hilary Duff - Elixir (2010)

This is the first book in Duff's series Elixir.

The story begins with Clea Raymond on vacation in Paris. She's a photojournalist who's more comfortable behind the lens, than interacting with people. While looking at her pictures she notices the image of a young man, Sage, in every one. Sage starts to haunt Clea's dreams, like a ghost. But, on assignment in Rio, Clea finds Sage is very real and they're soulmates - destined to live out a tragic life together over and over again.

It was an interesting book (at least the idea behind it was), but I didn't like the ending. The second half of the book was a chase scene and then suddenly it could all be fixed by one action, destroyed by one betrayal - all in the last few pages. Quite irritating really, it left me thinking that the writer had multiple personalities and six of them had written this book. It just didn't run smoothly and two many doors were opened, but not explored. There was too much filler in the book and not enough depth. Sad since it began well. I really liked the opening description of Clea's panic attack, it felt so real. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there.

Meg Cabot - Sanctuary (2002)

This is the fourth book in Cabot's Missing series.

It's Thanksgiving and Jess is busy trying to get out of dinner with her family so she can make it to her boyfriend Rob's house to eat with him and his mother. On her way home she's stopped by police who've found the body of her neighbour, covered in racist carvings, left dead in a field.

Jess had known he was missing, but she'd thought he was out with friends so she hadn't tried to 'see' where he was. Now she blames herself and when another boy goes missing Jess is determined to use her abilities to find him and put the racist murderers in gaol, even if it outs her to the FBI.

Another dark storyline, but well-written. Cabot finds solutions to the darkness and gives us the happy ending we rarely get in real life. It's difficult to write books like this for young adults without making them adult books, but Cabot manages it. I really like this series, there's so many great characters with simple lives that are so interesting. Jess may have psychic abilities thrust on her, but she's an ordinary girl in all other ways. The books are worth reading just to experience the interactions between Jess, her family, friends and the FBI.

Meg Cabot - Safe House (2002)

This is the third book in Cabot's Missing series.

Jess is back from summer camp and finds herself blamed for the death of fellow student Amber Mackay. Amber had disappeared while Jess was away and didn't know she was missing, but that doesn't make the students at Ernest Pyle High School any less angry at Jess. When another girl goes missing everyone looks to Jess to save her and she's forced into trying to save Heather, whilst keeping her family safe from the FBI.

Considering this was a murder mystery it wasn't too heavy. Cabot is good at writing books where the subject matter doesn't draw you into the dark too deeply, but you're still wanting good to win and evil to be pummeled into gooey pulp. You can recognise that you're in Hell, but it doesn't overwhelm you. I like that about these books. They're darker than Cabot's Princess Diaries (which was more light than dark), but I can see how they're the next level up for kids developing. This is their first look at the horrors of the world and how to live with or fight it.

Ellery Adams - Peach Pies and Alibis (2013)

This is book two in the Charmed Pie Shoppe mystery series.

American writers really do love to "Americanise" the Arthurian myth. In this series the LeFaye women are direct descendants of the good Morgan LeFay, and their nasty counter-parts are from Queen Guinevere. Perhaps America is a mirror-verse of England?

Having grown up on the Arthurian myth, particularly via Susan Cooper and T.H. White, the book seemed really implausible. Why would all of the Arthurian characters ditch England for America? Particularly when one of the main aspects of the myth is how Arthur is the great hero for England's times of peril? (Although I think he missed the boat on World War II. Perhaps his supernatural alarm didn't go off?)

Anyways, ignore the myth and you do have a good book. The story is interesting, each of the LeFaye women has a specific gift. The lead character, Ella Mae, can bake pies that enchant people to do or feel what she wants them to. It borders on manipulation (or has crossed that border), but fortunately Ella Mae is a good encantress and she tries to help make people's lives better, even when she doesn't like them. This helps her solve mysteries and find murderers - although in this book Ella Mae has to do it before they all lose their powers. No pressure kid.

Agatha Christie - Destination Unknown (1954)

This is another of Christie's standalone spy thrillers.

Hilary Craven, amusing name since she's trying to kill herself in Morocco when the story begins,  is enlisted by a British agent Jessop to impersonate a missing scientist's dead wife. Scientists have been disappearing all over the world and Jessop believes Hilary is his best hope of locating where they've been spirited off to.

I really liked the journey across Africa and the different ideologies for the characters - these made up their different reasons for disappearing the way they did. They all thought they were going to their version of Utopia. In reality a very wealthy man was collecting 'resources' that the world would pay heavily to use. Christie wasn't blinded by the illusions thrown up to stop people seeing the realities of life - in the end it's always about money. Greed makes the world go round. Quite sad really, since money doesn't exist yet so much harm is done to acquire it.

Agatha Christie - Sparkling Cyanide (1944)

Christie loves her story-lines where heiresses are murdered for their fortunes. I wonder if it happened often in the 30s and 40s, or if she just didn't like beautiful self-involved heiresses.

Rosemary Barton dies at her birthday dinner - suicide by cyanide in champagne. Less than a year later her husband receives letters stating Rosemary was murdered and he calls in Colonel Race to help him figure out why and whom.

This was a good story - Race doesn't have much more than a cameo in it for most of the book. It's more him trying to convince George to leave things to the police. George doesn't and this gets him killed, so Race steps in to solve the murder, helped by Rosemary's sister Iris's fiance Anthony Browne.

I really like the name of one of the antagonists - Ruth Lessing. Her character was truly ruthless and foolish.

Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile (1937)

This is the 15th book in the Hercule Poirot mysteries and the second book featuring Colonel Race. It's one of my favourite of Christie's mysteries and one of the saddest.

The very poor Simon Doyle meets the equally poor Jacqueline de Bellefort, they fall passionately in love, get engaged and Jackie introduces him to her very wealthy best friend Linnet Ridgeway - who promptly steals Simon away.

Enter Egypt, three months later, on a cruise up the Nile. The newly wed Simon and Linnet are on their unhappy honeymoon as they're pursued by a vengeful Jackie. Poirot, also on the cruise, watches the drama uneasily as he suspects things are not quite what they seem. With Linnet's murder, the theft of pearls, the appearance of Colonel Race on the trail of a foreign agent, and far too many suspects who wanted Linnet dead - Poirot finds a very confusing case that taxes his little grey cells.

I'm always saddened by Linnet's death. She was spoiled and used to getting her own way, but she was only 20 years old and to kill someone so young for money is just so meaningless. Money is an imaginary concept, without worth. Linnet shouldn't have been murdered for it, especially not with the justification that she had betrayed a friend and stolen her fiance as the slim reason behind it all. People mature, they grow out of their feckless youth. Linnet would never have the chance.

I'm still quite fond of Colonel Race. He doesn't have Poirot's skill at puzzling out the truth, but he's such a comforting character. I've liked watching him develop through Christie's novels.

Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

This is the second Christie novel featuring Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent. It's set four years after the Secret of Chimneys in the 1920s.

Bundle, now a young lady, stumbles on a mystery that began whilst Chimneys was leased for the past two years. What's the significance of the seven clocks? What did Gerry Wade mean by the Seven Dials? Who killed Ronny Devereaux and what does it all have to do with a formula for steel?

Bundle, in her usual exuberant manner, bumbles about, often finding clues by accident. Enlisting the help of Jimmy, Lorraine and Bill, they inflict themselves on the ever tolerant Superintendent Battle who also seems to be involved in the mystery.

I really enjoyed it, but I don't believe there is a Christie I haven't liked. What I really  would have loved is for Christie to have written more mysteries featuring Bundle, who is just such an engaging character, I wanted her story to go on and on.

Agatha Christie - The Secret of Chimneys (1925)

This is Christie's first book featuring Superintendent Battle.

Adventurer Anthony Cade agrees to deliver a manuscript to an English publisher for an old friend. To Cade, this seemed like a simple favour, only no-one wants the manuscript to be published. The resulting capers have Cade crashing a house-party at Chimneys, embroiled in the politics of Herzoslovakia, searching for a Royal murderer and finding the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond.

The book was FUN! The characters were interesting and enaging. As a murder-mystery it wasn't in the normal thrill-dash-ride for the killer. It was a bit of a mad romp through the idiosyncrasies of politicians, fanatics and aristocracy. None of whom seem even slightly versed in day-to-day realities.

So bring on the full English breakfast (minus the kidneys) and enjoy the farce as Scotland Yard and the Sûreté try to solve a crime with the bumbling help of a cast of characters who think it is all a bit of a lark - as long as the drinks are never delayed by a dashed inconvenient murder.

Victoria Hamilton - Bran New Death (2013)

This is the first book in the Merry Muffin Mystery series and seems to be part of the penny-dreadful mystery books that are being conveyor-belted out these days. It's tolerable light reading, but don't expect a mystery in the realm of Christie or Sayers. These are fluffy books that you can spend a few hours consuming, non-taxing or thought provoking.

The protagonist Merry Wynter's life falls apart in New York, so she heads off to a house she recently inherited from her Uncle. Merry essentially runs away from home and only lets friends know she's gone once she finds herself alone and in trouble - like most kids. Happily her friends are very forgiving and they rush to her aid as she creates a new life in Autumn Vale and solves the mystery of her Uncle's murder.

The story wasn't unduly deep and the characters didn't draw me in. I didn't like any of them, I felt they were cardboard cut-outs. Surface development without substance which left me not overly interested in reading the next two books in the series.  I think an author with Hamilton's experience should have been able to write more realistic characters than this. The whole book felt tongue-in-cheek, right down to the character's names. Like the author was poking fun at the more ludicrous writers in the world - only she wasn't, and that's just a bit sad for literature.

Elizabeth Peters - The Hippopotamus Pool (1996)

This is the eighth book in the Amelia Peabody series. It is 1900 and the whole family is back in Egypt for this excavation season where they stumble upon a Royal Tomb in Thebes - mostly by following the thieves back to it. This has two parties after them, one to protect Queen Tetisheri and one to kill off the Emersons and loot her tomb.

It was a fun book, but I didn't like the ending. I thought that, after everything she has experienced, Amelia's character was incredibly stupid.

I was very happy to have Walter and Evelyn back in Egypt, but I didn't think their characters resolved out very well. Evelyn arrived in Egypt heart-broken and at some point everything was suddenly fine? Maybe that got lost in the editing.

So a few hiccups in this book, but it was still a good book in the series. Ramses and Nefret develop into teenagers and they're joined by another 'brother', David. I'm still quite fond of Ramses, he's interesting, but nice and not a bully like his father. I like Emerson, but his constant bullying and yelling at people gets tiring after a book or three.

Elizabeth Peters - The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991)

This is the sixth book in the Amelia Peabody series. This excavation season finds them in the Sudan, initially on a dig in Nubia, until they're enticed into hunting for a lost Meroitic city and a missing Englishman. They're without their usual network of Egyptian friends and loyal archaeological staff, which leaves them dependent on each other in a treacherous environment a long way from sanctuary.

The death of the camels made me sad, particularly when I found out they'd been poisoned. I understand the plot reasoning for it, but I think it all would have worked fine if every camel was stolen in the night by their guides. (I know most of you will say "but it's just a book animal, it's not real", but, honestly, I cannot see any reason for writing about raping women or children in books either. It disgusts me just as much. I wonder if it puts bad ideas into people's minds.)

Other than that, this was a good book. Ramses is developing as an interesting character, he's 10 years old here and becoming more of a handful for his parents. He seems to have the best characteristics of both of them. He's loquacious, curious, brave and intelligent with a odd affinity for felines of any type.

I really enjoy all the information on Ancient Egypt that Peters threads through her books. Peters brings it alive for me. I never enjoyed Ancient Egypt studies as a child, but since reading these books I've become interested in the excavations of the 1880s to the 1930s and how the Egyptians lived.

Elizabeth Peters - The Deeds of the Disturber (1988)

This is the fifth book in the Amelia Peabody series and is set in England in the Summer of 1896. The Emerson family have only just returned from an excavation season in Egypt when they're approached by a wastrel brother who wants to dump his children on Amelia and a journalist who has senationalised recent mummy-related deaths and wants the Emersons to solve the mystery (solely for his readers peace of mind).

Needless to say, Amelia, Emerson and Ramses cannot resist a mystery - even when Emerson pretends he can.

This was enjoyable. I liked being in England for a whole book. It was interesting to see the difference in their daily lives and the culture of the era. I also liked how much Peters entwines the growing consciousness of women and their rights, as they slowly evolve, into each book. Even Peabody, a devout suffragist, finds herself thinking in male inequality terms and has to challenge herself to think of women as equal and capable of doing whatever they want to do.

Elizabeth Peters - Lion in the Valley (1986)

This is book four in the Amelia Peabody series and the Emerson family is back in Egypt in 1896 to excavate at Dahshoor, where Amelia finally gets her pyramids. Unfortunately the Master Criminal Sethos is back, showering Amelia with gifts and trying to woo her from Emerson in his own underhanded ways. Who said romance was dead?

Along the way Amelia picks up a new set of disgruntled lovers to unite, saves her son Ramses from constant impending doom (usually brought about by his own precocious mind), keeps her husband Emerson from alienating all of Egypt and clears her friends of murder. All the normal run of happenings in an excavation season for Mrs. Amelia Peabody Emerson!

These books are fun and I am rapidly reading my way through them. They make 1890s Egypt sound so romantic and interesting - you don't have to deal with flies, heat, thirst or general travel illnesses. Armchair-book-travel is the best way to go!

Lucy Carver - Young, Gifted and Dead (2013)

When I began this book I almost threw it aside. It initially begins like season one of Veronica Mars - the murdered best friend is even named Lily! But, the brilliant plot quickly had me hooked. Our heroine, Alyssa, is sent off to an elite boarding school in the wilds of England where she encounters a ruthless secret society with a very nasty agenda.

Put like that it doesn't sound like much, but the author has a way of twisting the plot and throwing the blame in different directions until you don't know who the real murderer is until the very end. Some of the topics raised in the book were a little frightening, but very relevant in today's egotist society. I wouldn't want anyone under the age of 16 to read it, but it definitely would be thought provoking for older teens.

Kerry Greenwood - Cooking the Books (2011)

This is the sixth book in the Corinna Chapman series.

I adore Corinna. She's not Goddess-perfect in any way and that makes her one of my favourite characters. Corinna is nice, practical, hard-working, affectionate, loyal, not self-involved, empathic, open-minded, understanding, happy with herself - she's all the things people should be if we lived in a better world. Corinna is all the things that would make a better world.

Corinna is a niche baker in Melbourne CBD who lives in a very eccentric building, Insula, filled with equally eccentric residents. Mysteries come her way and, with the help of her lover Daniel, Corinna sets out to solve them. In this book someone is pranking the lead star of a new television series and it's threatening to end the show. Dramas among the actors and crew mirror the melodrama on the soap and Corinna bakes her way through pettiness and intrigue to find lost children, a nasty prankster and stolen bonds.

Rhys Bowen - Queen of Hearts (2014)

This is the 8th book in Her Royal Spyness series. It takes Lady Georgiana Rannoch to America, accompanying her mother as she heads to Reno for a divorce. Georgie's beloved Darcy turns up on the trail of a jewel thief and they all end up in Hollywood, solving a murder, making a movie and drinking cocktails with the amorous Charlie Chaplin.

It was a fun book and I'm relieved to see Georgie and Darcy's relationship moving ahead. The whole will-they-won't-they in the previous books was annoying. I was hoping Darcy would get hit by a bus and Georgie would have a chance to fall in love with someone who loved and respected her, not just using her for her aristocracy connections.

Definitely read this series, the whole Darcy-Georgie thing is a small part of the fun and chaos that happens when she's solving mysteries or sent on 'errands' for the Queen. The only sad part is whenever Georgie has tea with the Queen - there's so many luscious cakes on the table, but etiquette says you may only eat what the Queen does, and she only eats a small slice of bread. So poor Georgie always leaves afternoon tea hungry. Take pity on the poor girl your majesty, please!

Agatha Christie - The Man In The Brown Suit (1924)

 I read this Christie mystery at least once a year and it will always be one of my favourite-of-all-time novels. Not just because I'm half in love with Colonel Race either *sigh*. It's all of the characters, they feel so real and the adventure feels such fun. I'm there in Africa with Anne, I'm not just reading about it. I'm living the story.

Christie is one of the greatest authors ever, but I consider this in her top 10 best. The story is set in Africa (most of the time), with a master criminal who is charming and adorable, handsome dashing heroes and an in omnia paratus heroine - Anne. All of whom are searching for a murderer and Kimberley diamonds.

Anne is brilliant - she's so vibrant, ebullient, sparkling, vivacious... there just aren't enough words for how lively she is. You can feel Anne throughout the novel, everything she does and says. I couldn't relate to her one bit, I don't want to emulate her in any ways, I definitely didn't approve of the hero she chose for her husband - but I still adore her!

The only part of this novel that made me sad was the point where Colonel Race is described as a big game hunter (he's really British secret service, thankfully). I know everyone thought it was a fair fight back then, a bunch of guns and an unaware animal. But, I don't and never will. I know it continues today on private safari-slaughter sites in Africa and I'm appalled by it. Anyways, ending the rant - still a great novel!