Mysteries of Tanglewood Plantation
937432
Summer Woodfield was notified that she had inherited Tanglewood Plantation when her Aunt Ada had passed away.  This is a time-travel back and forth from 1860 to the 21th Century.  Summer left her job in  Chicago to see her beautiful plantation home, she was so excited but upon arrival her hopes dropped.  The large, once beautiful house was dilapitated and almost in ruins, in bad need of repairs, as she walked through the house chills went through her.

The novel kept me turning pages, I love the Civil War era.  The story had many characters with detailed personalities.  Even with the many characters the story is so well written you don't get lost or confused while reading.  The plot is incredible, the author did an outstanding job on her writing and research.  The time travel was merged so smoothly and beautifully together.  I learned more about the Civil War and the adventures were in colorful detail, it all came alive.

If you want a great adventure start here.  The author has written two other books in this series with Summer Woodfield.  You may want to read them in order, Summer's life continues in each book, there are no cliff-hangers to get you to read her other books just good adventures.  I have already read the second one, it's a good book also.
853130
In the nineteenth century, Nell Sweeney is working as a nurse. She assists in a difficult birth, and then is hired as a governess for the family. She becomes very attached to the baby girl, and her new life. But that may change when the long lost son of her employer gets arrested for murder. Nell is asked to investigate and finds that wealthy Boston families may try to hide their sins, but they can't bury them. This adult historical whodunit is full of the sights, sounds and smells of the past. The characters showed the demographic nature of the city, and added flavor to a tense, thoroughly-plotted mystery. Even though I didn't know who the culprit was until the end, I felt this story was too long and drawn out.
2769149
I lived in England (Herts) for three years and it took me back to places, smells, words, and good memories. Love reading mysteries and guessing who done it. Loved the descriptive words that put me in the middle of a scene. Great read. I would recommend this book to those who loved Downton Abbey.
1379372
1493 Glasgow Scotland is fast becoming one of my favorite places in which to immerse myself.  Gil Cunningham is a man of law who escaped a life in the Church in book one of this series, the Harper's Quine.  Instead he becomes the Archbishop's Questioner for his city and the surrounding countryside.  He's a natural at it.  His soon-to-be-father-in-law, Master Mason Pierre, is a great help and so is his bride to be, Alys. Each book reveals more about the intriguing world of late 15th century Scotland.

This mystery is fascinating to watch unfold.  From how long a body has been dead to telling time without clocks, it's a good puzzle dressed in unfamiliar garments.  The characters often speak in broad dialect and some of the passages can be tricky to read.  But once the vernacular gets in your head, it gets easier to figure out what was said.  Some of the clues will be familiar to readers - how the accounts are kept, is there a woman or two to question, who's lying and about what.  And a very satisfactory conclusion to the whole tangled mess.

An excellent read!
4473629
The setting of colonial Williamsburg and the impending American Revolution provide the backdrop to The Magistrate's Folly, an intriguing romantic mystery by author Lisa Karon Richardson.

Merry Lattimore, a young governess, stands accused of theft by her former employer, though she insists she's innocent of the charges. Despite this, she's sentenced to a term of indentured servitude in the American colonies by no other than the man whom she had once loved and wished to marry, Graham Sinclair. When discovers that Merry is innocent of the charges, he realizes his mistake. He secures a pardon for her, then boards a ship to Williamsburg to see if he might find her and ensure that she not only receives the pardon, but that he wishes to redeem himself in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Merry has been bought by the Bennings, a kind, wealthy local family, to serve as both governess and nursemaid to the children. Merry, who gained knowledge of herbs and nursing the sick through helping her father, a doctor, proves invaluable when the children fall ill. Under her care, they survive, and the Bennings are thankful to have Merry in their household. But just as the children recover, Graham arrives at the Benning home with Merry's pardon in hand. Now free, Merry could leave and go wherever she wished, but she is loyal to the children in her care and is reluctant to leave. Mrs. Benning offers to let Merry stay as a guest in the home so that she can figure out where to go from here. Things begin to look up until tragedy strikes. Mr. Benning falls ill and dies after drinking his sleeping draught, which was poisoned. The woman accused of the murder is a fellow slave named Jerusha, who is arrested on the grounds that she had a perfect motive for the murder: Mr. Benning was going to sell her young son in a slave auction.

Merry knows that Jerusha isn't guilty of the murder, and she promises to help Jerusha in any way she can. She goes to Graham about the situation, and he decides to defend Jerusha ar trial. Together, he and Merry work together to investigate the murder and determine who the real killer is, so that Jerusha will be cleared of all charges. As the two work together, they begin to open up to each other about what happened so many years ago. Their partnership is one of equals working toward the same mission. Graham is defending Jerusha because he wishes to redeem himself and to prevent another innocent person from being wrongly convicted. Merry is keeping a promise she made to Jerusha and can empathize with her situation, her own pleas of innocence having fallen on deaf ears. As they work as equal partners toward one common goal, they begin to see each other in a different light, and he feelings they both had thought were long since dead are rekindled.

Richardson's characters are very compelling, and throughout the narrative, she drops little tidbits of historical detail so you have know what exactly was going on at the time. The love story and the mystery both drive the plot to a very satisfying end that is full of promise for the two protagonists. All in all, a wonderful read, and I highly recommend it.
138641
Over the years, I have grown to love the Laura Childs' Tea Shop mysteries, and their descriptive tales of life and murder in Charleston, South Carolina. Childs' case of delightful characters -- Theodosia, Drayton, Haley, Delaine, Timothy Neville and even a cameo appearance by Theodosia's ex, Jory Davis, are back in a tale where murder hits a bit too close to home.

Theodosia is participating in a horsing event one county over when she literally falls of her horse and stumbles onto the body of Abby Davis, Jory's sister, and someone who is a sworn enemy. Having exchanged harsh words when Theodosia and Jory broke it off, there is no loved lost between the two women. Theodosia is soon drawn into solving Abby's murder by Jory, who implores her to help him in getting to the bottom of her death. As Theodosia starts investigating, she discovers that there is a lot more to Abby than meets that eye, and that buried secrets, a possible extra-marital affair,  jealousy and the kidnapping of a prominent South Carolinan's son could be what got her killed.

Oolong Dead is entertaining and delightful, and a must-read for fans of the cozy genre.
1511062
Enjoyed the history entwined in the twists and turns of this mystery.  I would recommend to a friend and a friend did recommend to me!
2609664
This is a darling little mystery set in an old English manor house. It begins with an accidentally death during World War II which is covered up by the perpetrator. It is uncovered by our intrepid American/English gardener who during the course of her investigation resolves other dormant mysteries surrounding several of the local villagers.

I have read other books by this author and was not disappointed by this offering. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a relative non violent mystery.

I give it a 4 star rating.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.
548849
A Holiday Yarn
This seaside harbor book again follows th knitters that meet once a week. It is the fall and the summer visitors have left the area
and snow is in the air.  An old man has passed away, he run the magazine and his whole family is into the publishing field, millionaires. Pam is one that should be in charge but not on the same level as others.
She wants to run a B&B with the old house. Love talk of the charity work the knitters do for local places. The knitters find something amiss at the old house and find hand written letters in the snow. They also have seen lights and shadows in the guest house next door.
The find the body that is still holding a gun. They work together to find out clues that will lead them to the killer. They find so much more.
The local need this year was to the historic building.  More mysteries come to light before they can solve the murder mystery.  Excerpt from the next book is included.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
4953286
this is a circle of mysteries, that keep circling around. the young mas has just finished language classed , to take his post in Africa.
to his dismay there is announcement in the papers for hi marriage to a woman he has never heard of, he has uncles and aunts galore, plus a mother who is calm an soothing, in a family if tight laced aristocrats. he eventually goes to see what is going on. at the address printed is a old rooming house with an interesting group of older people(including the supposed mother who is a "Mind reader") and one lovely young woman who works at the florist shop he has used so often to send flowers to start and end romances, OH yes the Medium who is supposed to be the mother of his intended has no children. as you see circle of mysteries. Who put the add in the paper? Who is the Bride to be? what does the "Medium " know about the uncle and aunt that have a secret about their time in the East? Will his mother marry again?
2975825
I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the unlikely lovely just north of Boston. This book answered some long standing questions I had (such as what the mysterious stone tower is) and introduced me to some fascinating facts and history. If you've ever had a chance to hike the Fells, reading about how they came to be is a delight.
357070
"Rebecca" had several elements that I loved:  a large Gothic-style manor, ghosts, mystery and suspense.  In the book, the narrator (in which interestly her first name is never revealed) is a young English lady of twenty-one, who is working as a "companion" to a middle-aged American gossip-loving socialite.  The young lady and her employer are staying at a hotel in Monte Carlo, where the young lady is introduced to Maxim de Winter, the owner of a large English manor house called Manderley who has lost his wife in a tragic drowning one year prior.  Mr. de Winter is a strange, serious man which everyone attributes to the loss of his wife, Rebecca.

The narrator and Mr. de Winter have an odd relationship over the course of the couple of weeks in Monte Carlo and when the narrator is told she is to go to New York, Mr. de Winter proposes marriage.  The narrator, longing for something more in life, agrees to marry him.  She is deeply in love with him, although he often remains distant and mysterious.  She expects that life at Manderley will be quite different from what she actually finds once she arrives there.

Although the first Mrs. de Winter is no longer living, there are traces of her all throughout the mansion.  The new Mrs. de Winter is told how wonderful Rebecca was and is very insecure in herself in that she feels she can't live up to Rebecca's reputation.  Rebecca's maid, the eerie Mrs. Danvers, immediately dislikes the new Mrs. de Winter.  As days go by at Manderley, the new Mrs. de Winter begins to have serious doubts that her marriage will be successful and that the house she is living in is still under Rebecca's influence.  Maxim becomes more and more distant and odd, and the narrator becomes more uneasy and afraid, as is understandable as the mystery of what happened to Rebecca is unraveled.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style - vivid descriptions with each scene set up nicely.  The author did a remarkable job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere.  Although I saw some of the mysteries of Rebecca's fate coming well ahead of time, there were still some new surprises waiting for this reader.  I would liken reading the book to walking through a large, historic manor house like Manderley, with each turn and hallway revealing another twist in the story and finding surprises all along the way.  I've seen other reviews that have said they found the book slow and dull, but I didn't want to put it down until every mystery was solved.

My only letdown of the novel was that even while Rebecca was not a nice person, I found it very weak for the main character to stand by Maxim de Winter so faithfully after what he had done.

After the story ended, I found it helpful to reread the first couple of chapters to be happily fulfilled with the ending.
1298324
I would have liked a bit more history woven in because the references to the Flatey book's historical figures were not well known to me.  But it was a great mystery, much like a British country house mystery.  I enjoyed it very much and will seek out more by this author.
1144425
This mystery is set in 1930's England and revolves around an inherited country home of Peter, Celia, and Margaret. They decide to make a stay there to see if the country life suits them. There is a rumored ghost on the property, "The Monk", strange sounds in the night and a mysterious stranger who may have darker motives. While the characterization was not particularly strong, the story has some charm, even though the mystery is less difficult to solve with a modern perspective. Some of the character's behavior is sterotypical (the slightly inept country policeman, for example) and some of actions of the characters, while probably fitting with the time period, are a bit jarring to modern sensibilities. It was an enjoyable, if not overly involving story.
3421146
I enjoyed this book so much, each time I thought I had the answer (I didn't) the mystery is so wonderful and descriptions of 3 Pines and its people
makes me want to visit there. Eat the foods and meet all the people and learn to understand and know a little more about Ruth.
Thank you for this amazing set up mysteries.
1254669
Margaret Maron's best Deborah Knott/Dwight Bryant books are the ones set in Dobbs/Colleton County. This is one of them. The story is told through each main investigating character. Body parts are showing up all over the place and how this is resolved is deftly done. Once again, her depictions of the Southern mindset are wonderful. I highly recommend this to all lovers of mysteries.
472831
I liked the book because it was really mysterious. There was a spirit in the house using a doll house. Once I started reading I didn't want to put the book down until I had finished it. It is my favorite mystery book.