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Another busy week. I finished only one book, the second in the Sophie Burgoyne series.

Rumors of smuggling at Lady Holme reach Sophie’s ears. Since the Lord and Lady of Lady Holme are planning a large riding party, they need four additional maids. Sophie, Flora, Ada, and Fern a young girl with a photographic memory, are employed as those maids.



Within days of their arrival, Richard Smythe is murdered and now the hunt is on to find the murderer. There are several possibles. The Inspector investigating this case arrests Dr. Beaton but Sophie does not believe he is the guilty man.

The murder, and Lord Hazlet’s 39 year house arrest, are entangled in the smuggling. References are made to a mysterious consortium, in operation for several hundred years.

The mystery is twisty, although the identity of the murderer is soon discovered. I found the beginning a little confusing as the young women all choose different names. But the book is charming and fun and I will definitely read the next in the series.

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The Game of Fear, by Charles Todd, is the 24th in the Ian Rutledge series. The Inspector is sent to Essex to investigate reports of a ghost. Rutledge’s good friend recalls there was an airfield there during the war (WWI) and a mysterious death.

Rutledge at first wonders if Lady Benton is seeing things but when he meets her, he changes his mind. Now he wonders if it is a prank. But he soon finds there are many unanswered questions about Captain Nelson’s death. Then Rutledge himself sees something mysterious.

As he investigates, he realizes this case connects to events during the war (an omnipresent theme) and to a fugitive accused of killing his family.

Another winner from the duo of Charles Todd and his mother. Now that she has died, the continuance of this series is in doubt and that is a shame. A wonderful series.Game of

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My schedule for blogging is out of whack because my husband and I were on vacation in Alaska. (More about that later).

I finished the Dark Queen by Faith Hunter.

Jane Yellowrock is promoted to Dark Queen by Leo Pellisier just as the European vamps arrive. Naturally, there are betrayals and wheels within wheels. During the epic battle, that the last few books have been heading for, it looks as though the New Orleans contingent will lose and the Europeans will win the United States.

Jane also meets a long lost brother, and she is not sure how she feels about that. More about her past is revealed.

This episode in the long running series ends on a cliff hanger so I now am looking forward to the next one in the series.

I also read the first in a new series for me: Secret Agency, by G. T. Bellamy.

Sophie Burgoyne is the daughter of a poor vicar. Knowing that she has to make her own way in the world, she starts an agency for hiring domestic servants. At first, the fledgling business is so slow Sophie is afraid she won’t be able to pay her bills. But a meeting with an old friend offers her another pathway. This new business quickly spirals into an investigation into an attempted murder, several successful murders, and espionage.

This was absolutely charming. I have already ordered the second in the series.

The third book I read was Marcia Talley’s The Last Refuge.

When the main female lead in a reality show withdraws because of illness, Hannah jumps in. The reality show is supposedly set in 1774 and while Hannah enjoys the clothing, she, and all the cast, struggled with the lack of modern amenities. They are supposed to be living as they would in 1774.

The murder occurs late in the book and the murder and the mystery are not the focus here. Nonetheless, a captivating story. Talley never disappoints

Willies and spirits

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Why did I make one of my most important characters in In the Shadow of the Bull a spirit, a ghost if you will?

After Arge dies, poisoned as she stands at the altar on her wedding day, she returns as a spirit to ask Martis for help in identifying the killer.

Willies, spirits of young girls who were murdered before they married or had children, were a common feature of ancient myth. Sometimes they were good, sometimes not, but almost every myth includes the haunting of the family by these willies. It was necessary to perform the proper rituals to prevent disaster. The importance of young women living long enough to bear children is certainly striking, but I digress.

In Martis’ case, Arge is helpful – and also the voice of Martis’s subconscious. In this way, Martis can have help figuring out what she’s seen and heard without involving someone who might be a suspect.

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Counterfeit Lady: City of Fortune by Victoria Thompson.

I read all of Thompson’s Gaslight series, featuring midwife Sarah, who delivered babies, and solved murders, throughout turn of the century New York City, and loved them.

The Counterfeit Lady series were a break from her former series, and I wasn’t sure about them. But I have read them all, and they are lots of fun. City of Fortune is my favorite so far.

For those of you who haven’t read this series, Elizabeth is a conman from a family of conmen (conpeople? conpersons?), who, in the first book, is swept up in the suffragette movement and jailed with a Mrs. Bates. Through her, Elizabeth marries Gideon Bates and turns over a new leaf. Her cons now aim to help people and right injustices.

In her current book, Thompson shines a light on the racing world. Elizabeth, Gideon and Mother Bates are invited to watch the races from the private box of a Mr. Nolan and his daughter Irene. Their horse’s loss results from skullduggery by a rival, Daniel Livingston. The jockey is thrown and badly injured. Enter a beautiful and mysterious Señora, who closely resembles Irene’s deceased mother.

The resulting cons aim to settle old scores with some despicable people as well as assist Irene in marrying the man she loves (the injured jockey). Some of the scenes are laugh out loud funny. I have already pre-ordered the next in the series.

Santorini andAkrotiri

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The volcano underneath Santorini is not extinct. It has continued to erupt and spew lava.

The small volcanic island off Santorini’s coast is made up of the cooled lava coming from beneath the ocean.

We hiked up to the top of this island, and it was really hot too. Since it is being added to, this little piece continues to grow.

When the volcano exploded in approximately 1450 B.C.E., it spread ash as Far East as Turkey. Archaeologists discovered a city on Santorini that had been buried in ash. Akrotiri is currently being excavated. Unlike Pompeii where entombed bodies have been discovered, no bodies have been found. So far, anyway. It is thought that they had enough warning to escape.

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The first book I read this past week was The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. I have read everything she has written and really enjoy her work. I read something that indicates this is the final Ruth Galloway and I am sorry to hear it. What a great series.

The body of a young woman is found behind a wall in a cafe. Nelson is called in to investigate and is horrified to learn this case involves his old friend Cathbad.

Ruth, besides her connection to Cathbad, also knows another suspect, a fellow researcher/lecturer. At the same time, her beloved archaeology department is under threat of being dissolved.

Another winner from Griffiths. And the on again, off again relationship with Nelson is finally resolved satisfactorily.

Cold Reign is number 11 in 15 Jane Yellowrock books. The European vamps are still slated to come to New Orleans, threatening Jane’s boss Leo Pellissier’s governance. But Clan Yellowrock (which includes besides Eli and Alex Younger, Edmund the primo vamp, Brute the werewolf, Bruiser) has a new scary threat. Vampires who’ve already died and been beheaded and buried are returning to life as revenants. Besides being superfast and difficult to kill, they have bottom fangs as well as top.

At the same time, magical lightning storms are plaguing the city. And Ricky-Bo, the were leopard who broke Jane’s heart, is back on the scene.

Another winner in this great urban fantasy series.

Thera/ Santorini

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What led to the end of the Minoan culture? As you might expect, there are several theories. War? Invasion? Natural Disaster? The current favorite is a combination of the final two.

The Mediterranean basin has, in a sense, its own small ring of fire. Because the African tectonic plate is colliding with the western portion of the Eurasian plate, the area is subject to earthquakes and to volcanoes. Two famous volcanoes are situated in Italy: Vesuvius and Etna. Both have erupted more than once during human history. Think Pompeii.

Next to Crete is a small island named Thera but now called Thera. In ancient times, it was a small circular island with a caldera in the center. Santorini now looks quite different, more like a comma with another piece a short distance away. Thera is the site of a volcano which blew in approximately 1450 B.C.E. It blew out the center of the island, depositing ash as far away as Turkey and causing a tsunami that, it is theorized, swamped the boats of the Minoan Navy. (This is where the second part – invasion – comes in. The Cretan society would have been seriously damaged and in disarray after such a catastrophe and would have been easy pickings for the early Mainland Greeks.)

This volcano is still active. It is under the ocean but continues to erupt, sending lava to the surface. The small piece separated from the larger island? It is now growing as the lava pushed up from below cools and is added to the baby island. Walking on the black volcanic stone is a strange feeling.

A cataclysm of such magnitude would not be easily forgotten. In fact it has been suggested, by Velikovsky and others, that this explosion was the germ of the Atlantis tale. Plato wrote about Atlantis and Velikovsky suggested the dimensions from Atlantis fit Crete if divided by 100.

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I finished The Secrets of Hartwood Hall.

This reminded me of the romantic suspense that was popular a number of years ago. With that said, the ending was quite different than it would have been in one of those books. I did not guess the mystery at all. It was fun, although I thought it was longer than it needed to be.

I also read Murder under a Red Moon by Harini Nagenra.

This is her second book (after the Bangalore Detectives Club ) and I really hope she continues with this series. Kaveri is a great character and this mystery is even better than the last. The setting (India in the 1920s) is very well drawn and she adds a dose of social commentary. In this one, she includes a few recipes, and not a common curry either. Truly excellent.

Labyrinths, part 2

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Is there a kernel of truth to the legend of the Minotaur? We already know there are many theories regarding the location of a labyrinth as described in the Greek myth. One theory mentioned previously is the complicated floor plan of the Knossos palace complex. Many of the Achaeans, the early mainland Greeks, would have come from halls with much fewer rooms so it is possible they saw the complicated and many roomed palace and were overwhelmed.

. A fragment of a floor with a labyrinth has been found during the excavation at Knossos. Was it decoration? Or something more? No one knows.

Or perhaps the maze as described in the myth hasn’t been found. Pieces of tablets from Knossos, talk about a place with a labyrinth. So far, no one knows where that might be. Or even if it was a different location.

What about the minotaur, a bull-headed man? Considering the number of ancient cultures who used masks to represent animals and/or Gods, it doesn’t take much imagination to guess a man wearing a mask played the part of the Minotaur in religious rites. Bulls were very important; sacred in fact in this Bronze Age culture.

Finally, we come to the core of the Theseus and Minotaur myth. The tribute of young men and women were chased through the labyrinth and consumed. The Minoans have the reputation for being a peaceful society. It is probably true that, because they were an island with an excellent Navy, they were well defended from outside invaders. But certain finds have suggested this society was not as peaceful as it appears to us now. Bones of children mixed in with the bones of bovines and sheep, and bearing the same cut marks, suggest they were eaten as the animals were. Were these ancient Cretans cannibals? Was eating human flesh part of their religious rites?

Another finding suggests human sacrifice. Three bodies, crushed by falling debris during an earthquake, seem to indicate the sacrifice of a young man by a priest. Many cultures sacrificed to appease the Gods. However, if they were sacrificing this young man to prevent an earthquake, they left it to late.