Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

NO TOUGHER DUTY, NO GREATER HONOR by GySgt L. Christian Bussler – Iraq War Biographies, Memoir, War Biographies

From a family with a long history of military service dating back to the civil war, GySgt L. Christian Bussler brings to life his experience as a Mortuary Affairs marine and sheds light on a duty that few ever talk about. He is called to duty for his first of three tours in Iraq in February of 2003 after spending many years training as a reservist.

This fear becomes reality when he narrowly escapes an IED blast with his life. Afterward, Bussler wrestles with the guilt of going back home injured, leaving his team behind to fight without him. The final and longest section of No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor mirrors the length of the final and longest tour from 2005-2006. This tour especially proves to be the most challenging for not just Bussler, but his whole team, and it leaves them all forever changed.

Despite its heavy topic, No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor is rich with Bussler’s humble and humorous personality and is full of informative detail. People read memoirs to learn about the lives of others and gain new perspectives, and as the pages quickly turn, the wide range of emotions felt by Bussler and those around him are beautifully described. The addition of personal photos adds to the authenticity and genuineness of Bussler’s story as a Mortuary Affairs officer.

A defining quality of No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor is Bussler’s unrelenting humbleness and is best expressed when he reflects about going home injured and leaving behind his fellow marines to continue fighting without him. He also presents an important question about whether to try and maintain a distance from the reality of the Mortuary Affairs or to embrace the fallen angels’ stories and their connections to those left behind.

In the closing part of the book, comes the defining moment of Bussler’s career where the deep emotions of grief are at the forefront. From this comes the ever honest and humble reflection,

“Maybe in a weird way, this book is my attempt to keep their memories and their sacrifices alive, because I saw with my own eyes how much they paid for a freedom that so many take for granted, and I truly, from the bottom of my heart, hope that I demonstrated exactly that throughout this work.”

Though now retired from the Marines, GySgt L. Christian Bussler is still active in the veteran community and acts as a mentor for other veterans. A truly magnificent and heartfelt memoir, No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor is a must-read for every American.

No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor won first place in the CIBA 2018 JOURNEY Awards for narrative non-fiction.

February 5, 2020
SCARE AWAY the DARK: A STONE SUSPENSE by Karen Dodd – Int’l Mystery & Crime, Psychological Thriller, Literature

Scare Away the Dark raises the bar for exciting suspense stories as Jordan Stone, a young millennial who has made it as the top newspaper investigative journalist in Vancouver B.C., traverses dark physical and psychological landscapes on what becomes a life or death mission. On this journey, she encounters characters for whom human life is cheap, evil deeds are part of doing business, and revenge is an art form.

Lured by the promise of information about the whereabouts of her parents who seem to have disappeared from a witness protection program, Jordan passes up Friday evening happy hour at a pub with her coworkers in favor of a clandestine meeting with a long-time confidential informant. She has no inkling, as she drives for more than an hour through pelting rain to the agreed-upon rendezvous site, that her life is about to change forever.

Jordan meets, rather than her trusted tipster, a stranger with a different agenda. He’s a perverted monster who abducts Jordan, holds her captive in a remote underground bunker, and abuses her in unthinkable ways for what seems like forever.

Fifteen days later, the traumatized Jordan is discovered and rescued by the RCMP. One of her rescuers, Inspector J.J. Quinn, aggravates Jordan by persistently following up on her kidnapping. When she can’t remember details, he pushes her to face her demons—urges her to undergo hypnotism and therapy to unlock her memories.

After a subsequent attempt on her life, and reluctantly beginning victim therapy, Jordan takes a leave of absence from the newspaper to rethink her future. Assisted by her long-time friend and research assistant, Rachel Sommers, and former inspector Quinn, newly minted as a private investigator, she seeks to learn why she became a target in the first place. As she continues to pursue what she was working on before her abduction, an investigative piece about an Italian crime family and its far-reaching tentacles, little does she suspect that these two pursuits connect in the most inconceivable ways.

Scare Away the Dark at times leans heavily on backstory information from Dodd’s previous book, Deadly Switch, which tends to slow the pace and is sometimes confusing. However, Dodd offsets this by coupling the stuff of contemporary headlines—man-made plagues of criminal activities and the power of true love—with meticulously reimagined settings, multi-dimensional characters, and complex sub-plots, to create an engaging romantic thriller.

With an ending that comes out of left field, Scare Away the Dark leaves the reader with a gasp and ready for what happens next. Caution: Read with the lights on and the doors locked!

Scare Away the Dark won first place in the CIBA 2018 CLUE Awards for Suspense and Thriller novels.

January 30, 2020
FICTION CAN be MURDER: A Mystery Writer’s Mystery by Becky Clark – Female Sleuths, Cozy Mystery, American Literature

When a not-so-beloved literary agent dies under suspicious circumstances, a local mystery writer becomes the prime suspect in the death and must use her honed sleuthing skills to prove her innocence and find the real killer.

Colorado mystery writer, Charlemagne “Charlee” Russo, longs for the “halcyon days when authors were held in high esteem, and agents and publishers took care of all business except for putting the right word on the page.” The reality of the day is Charlee must deal with Melinda Walters, an unpleasant and dismissive, high-powered agent who can’t or won’t explain Charlee’s recently declining book royalties. Meanwhile, Charlee takes compliments and criticism from the likes of her Monday Morning writer’s group and volunteer beta readers comprised of family, friends, and neighbors. When she suddenly gets word that Melinda has been killed and her unusual death mirrors the specifics of events Charlee wrote about in her latest unpublished fictional manuscript, all eyes are on Charlee.

Soon Charlee is ticking off her own list of suspects while highlighting their motives, means, opportunities, and alibis. Her focus is primarily on anyone who had access to her manuscript, including fellow writers, boyfriend Ozzie, volunteer readers, Melinda herself, Melinda’s assistant “Q,” and a car mechanic. Clark ignites the story with an eclectic supporting cast that runs the gamut from a Mensa-card-carrying “Einstein” and a Goth who writes children’s books, to a neighbor with a shark-tooth smile who spent time in a mental health facility and appears to have a penchant for stealing books. With themes of money, love, jealousy, and revenge, the usual motives for murder, Charlee considers her suspects, one by one, but continues to entertain new possibilities along the way. Clark cleverly incorporates some unexpected reveals amidst this diverse group.

Through an intricate first-person narrative, readers remain invested in the story via the barrage of questions surrounding the murderous main event. As Charlee concedes that someone used her imaginary crime scenario to kill her agent, with questions like, “Was it to frame her? Was the prose so compelling they couldn’t help themselves? Why now? Why me?” Clark creates a pondering central character both witty, and on edge.

Clark’s writing style conjures out-of-this-world visuals, detailing the melting pot attributes of her Aurora town complete with bodegas, authentic ethnic restaurants, meth houses, and red-light districts.

Touches of humor also add an enjoyable lightness to the intensity of this drama. And, while the final reveal is unexpected, the tidbits of a backstory help the swirling pieces of this puzzle fall into place.

In this delightful and diverting debut, Charlee Russo proves a likable and plausible heroine. Readers will love her desire to consume a perfectly satisfying toasted grilled cheese sandwich, and her all-out efforts to exonerate herself and friends from the pointing fingers of law enforcement. Clark delivers fun and witty entertainment, with a double-edged appeal for mystery fans and bibliophiles alike.

Fiction Can Be Murder: A Mystery Writer’s Mystery won first place in the CIBA 2018 M&M Awards for Mystery and Mayhem.

January 27, 2020
YEARNING for the UNATTAINABLE by L. L. Eadie – Southern Gothic YA, Ghost Story YA, YA Paranormal Romance

Y.F.T.U.: Shorthand for “yearning for the unattainable.” It’s an ongoing condition in the life of 16-year-old Gentry Wickleham, very much a 21st Century teenager whose life thus far has been a series of shifting sands: a father who can’t seem to hold a job, a mother who disappeared long ago, Rawsom – her obnoxious older brother, a seemingly endless series of Dad’s girlfriends with maternal skills that verge on the non-existent, and a constant life on the move.

“Damn,” she says at one point. “Maybe I’m not sure where I belong. Maybe I don’t.”

So, when Dad and Nikki, his nubile new girlfriend, and Rawsom move to the small town of Wiregrass, Georgia, and move into her great aunt Tom’s decrepit old mansion, Gentry has no expectation of the wild, exuberant ride awaiting her. Who knew that secrets, ghosts, and murder awaited her, along with new friends, a new exciting life, and even love was right around the corner? More specifically, who knew what revelations about her family’s past, as well as her own unique relationship with a dead girl from another time, was happening right upstairs in the attic of the old house.

Yearning for the Unattainable is an enjoyable brew of multiple storylines that keep readers bouncing through Gentry’s life. Central to the story is her near-identical resemblance to Sylvie, her aunt Tom’s daughter, whose early, mysterious death at 16 during the 1960s affected virtually everyone who lived in the small, close-knit town Even today, people are influenced by her suicide – or was it murder? – a half-century ago.

But this is no usual whodunit. We live in Gentry’s sensitive yet yearning skin as she navigates through the rigors of growing up. Is she pretty enough? Can the young man she lusts after, a nearly perfect boy named Legend, even begin noticing her when he’s constantly surrounded by hoards of busty competitors that keep Gentry constantly reassessing her own ability to compete? In her world, if boys are Sirloins and girls are Sirens, then what is she?

It takes skill to tell this kind of tale. There are multiple threads to follow from the dead Sylvie to the mysteries of Aunt Tom’s mansion, to Gentry’s lustful fantasies about Legend and her reluctant development of a relationship with her father’s girlfriend among them. Author, L.L. Eadie effortlessly takes us with her from storyline to storyline in what ultimately is a complex tale. Y.F.T.U. also keeps providing new details about each key character, making it easy to recall who’s who, which allows us to know these people even as the mysteries of Wiregrass reveal themselves all the way to the last page.

The language is often salty. Some might find that offensive, but this is a contemporary book dealing with themes as old as mankind itself. Author L.L. Eadie serves up a Southern Gothic YA novel in a fresh new way and succeeds admirably.

January 22, 2020
DARED to RETURN: A Kate Anderson Mystery (Book 2) by J.J. Clarke – Cozy Mystery, Female Sleuth, Humorous Mystery

Kate Anderson has an exciting new life in Tampa Bay, Florida. An aspiring writer with a new book recently released, she’s left behind her old life as a court investigator in Kingseat, Missouri. But when she receives a frantic call from her ninety-two-year-old grandfather, Theodore, she hops on a plane back home.

Just five weeks earlier, Kate’s step-grandmother, Helen, died. Not long after Helen’s death, Kate’s grandfather was thrown out of his house and sent to the Squaw Valley Nursing Home, a place where old people go to die. Unbeknownst to Kate, most of Helen’s two-million-dollar estate has been left in trust – and not to her husband of twenty-five years. The trustee is a corrupt secret society known as HOGG, a group of important town officials who con elderly citizens out of their money, distribute it to charities and take a considerable percentage for themselves.

The elderly in town believe they are contributing to the betterment of the community. Kate refuses to sit idly by and teams up with her spunky publicist, Susie Jones, and former US Marshal and newly appointed Kingseat Police Chief, Reese Matthews, to exact revenge and bring down this ring of corruption. With a family feud, a suspicious trust, and a fiery sleuth, what could possibly go wrong?

Raised by her biological grandfather and step-grandmother, Kate hasn’t had what anyone would call an ordinary life. With a degree in law enforcement, she worked as a bond investigator until she became the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Using her law knowledge, she gave the U.S. Marshals a merry chase as she worked to clear her name.

Now, with two deaths tied to her, Kate is a tough nut to crack, and she isn’t about to let the evil forces at work in Kingseat get away with stealing from her grandfather. Her tenacity even causes her to punch a lawyer in court (and get away with it), and her endless costume closet presents unlimited chances to catch her prey red-handed initially in some humorous ─ and oddly satisfying ─ ways. She and Susie make a modern-day, irreverent superhero duo, righting the wrongs done by the evil, dominating force of HOGG.

Clarke delivers the second book in the Kate Anderson Mystery series with a lead character that will capture the imaginations of many. And while preying upon our seniors is a despicable act, what Kate does to right the wrongs will bring satisfaction to readers. This “beautiful little town with an underbelly of evil” hits close to home for some, and Kate’s fight for her grandfather is a fight for us all.

January 20, 2020
The ONLY ONE LEFT (The Neema Mysteries, Book 3) by Pamela Beason – Thriller/Suspense, Animal Cozy, Police Procedural

While spending some time with his sweetheart, animal behavior scientist Grace McKenna and her adopted family of gorillas, Detective Matthew Finn finally endures a kiss from Neema while keeping an eye on the huge silverback Gumu. He accepts a ‘toy’ from their baby, Kanoni. But upon further inspection, Matt and Grace believe the object might be part of a human finger bone. Where did it come from? How did it get in the gorillas’ remodeled barn? The homicide detective knows he’ll need to investigate, but just then, his cell phone chirps.

Desk Sergeant Greer of the Evansburg, Washington, Police Department tells Matt to get back on duty and head directly to the Gorge Amphitheatre, where the Sasquatch Festival has just ended. A car belonging to a 17-year-old girl, last seen by her parents in Bellingham, Washington, three days earlier, has been found abandoned next to a tent in the Amphitheatre campground.

Three days earlier, Darcy Ireland and Mia Valdez had hatched a plan for adventure. They each told their parents that they would be spending the weekend together as volunteer workers for the Ski to Sea race from Mt. Baker to Bellingham. In fact, they would go to the Sasquatch Festival and camp there over the Memorial Day weekend. The only problem is Darcy’s car is still at the venue. Where did the girls go?

Matt Finn’s sleuthing brain works fast and hard. He doesn’t take it easy on his body, either—missing sleep as well as meals until his growling tummy wakes him up. Little by little, clues begin to emerge, as others who had been at the festival are found and interviewed. One reported that he had seen the girls leave with a couple of dudes on motorcycles midway through the festival, seemingly happy as they rode off for what they had been told would be a picnic. He wondered why they hadn’t returned. Detective Flynn knows from experience that every hour the girls are missing decreases the chance of finding them alive.

While the law officials and the parents still know nothing about the missing girls’ whereabouts, we readers do. Darcy wakes up the next day, her face scalded red by the glaring sun. Lying in a field in the middle of nowhere, Darcy’s backpack and cell phone are missing. But she’s not alone. The first sound she hears is that of a rattlesnake. Mia awakens to semi-darkness, in a shed with a floor of dirt and a security door locked from the outside. There is more, a lot more, but we’re not about to give any more away!

With the power of her compelling descriptions and nail-biting suspense, Beason keeps her readers hanging on the edge.

Pamela Beason continues to keep us turning the pages with her stellar mysteries. Each one seems hard to top until she delivers the next. Readers unfamiliar with this outstanding thriller author will want to catch up with this series (she has several!), click on the titles to read our reviews: The Only Witness and The Only Clue.

The Only One Left won First Place in the CIBA 2018 CLUE Awards for Mysteries and Suspense.

January 17, 2020
The KORPES FILE (The Korpes Files Series Book 1) by J. I. Rogers – CyberPunk Sci-fi, Genetic Engineering Sci-fi, Dystopian, Space Opera

Set in a world that is ridden with lethal radiation from a cataclysmic event, J. I. Rogers’s debut novel and the first novel of her 942 series is a definitive addition to the science fiction genre.

Life in The Korpes File is lived almost entirely indoors and relies highly on the advancement of technology to support life on a planet that is no friend to the living. Technician Nash Korpes is a member of the Diasporan people, who face harsh discrimination from the Korlo people of Korlune, where this saga is set. Nash is a genetic anomaly that gives him the appearance of his ancestors long ago. Because of this, he is recruited as an official subject within the government research organization KMR & D.

Nash has his reasons for signing over his life; his mental state is deteriorating, and his growing medicine regime are becoming too much and even dangerous, he decides he has to find a way out.

Spanning ten years of rising tensions across Korlune and within Nash’s mind, The Korpes File is packed with a large cast of characters told from numerous points of view. The interlocking plotlines can be hard at times to keep track of, but Rogers kindly includes a handy character index and map for reference, and they’ll need it. Readers are immersed straight into Nash’s world of unquestioned conformity and strict societal expectations. Still, the story itself is unapologetic to readers and rarely takes the time to explain itself, which, in a way, is its defining quality.

The truth is hidden deep, and J. I. Rogers scatters little details calling back to earlier points that help to unravel the overarching mystery. In a way, there are two mysteries. One within Nash’s mind and the nature of his condition and subsequent treatment, whereas the other is of a resurfacing war of destruction that will change life in Korlune forever. For both these mysteries, Rogers’s narrative style involves abrupt changes throughout the novel that are frankly disruptive. Still, they are useful in creating a sense of chaos one would face in a world of rising tensions and competing realities.

When presented with a large number of characters, it may seem like a daunting task to achieve necessary amounts of character development, and Rogers does just that, again and again. Just as attachments begin to form, the chaos prevalent in the novel tears them away from the forefront. Nash himself is present throughout the story but becomes a very different person from the beginning of because of all the mental, emotional, and physical trails he goes through spanning the ten-year passage of time. The story is only just beginning, however, and Nash’s story is far from over.

The Korpes File is a dynamic debut from J. I. Rogers that is sure to delight any die-hard science fiction fan looking for something new. The second novel of the 942 series was published this past March and continues the trials and tribulations of Technician Nash Korpes trying to find his way in a turbulent and dangerous world.

The Korpes File won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2018 Cygnus Awards for Speculative Science Fiction.

January 15, 2020
BLAZING BULLETS in DEADWOOD, Man Hunter #3 by Jacquie Rogers – Classic Western, Humorous, Western Fiction

Honey Beaulieu is going to get her man – no matter how many tries it takes. Determined to capture the elusive Boyce McNitt, Honey is off to Deadwood Gulch despite the warnings that the dangerous road is plagued by thieves and natives. But before she can pursue the $500 bounty, she needs to take care of issues at home, including finding a shop for a pregnant seamstress, sixteen-year-old Emma, a home for eight-year-old Myles Cavanaugh, his two younger sisters, and their pregnant mother. Between her do-gooding, denying her blossoming feelings for Deputy US Marshal Sam Lancaster, and a run-in with a herd of escaped pigs determined to destroy Fry Pan Gulch, Honey barely has time to get out of town before she gets trapped by winter. Once on the road, she comes face-to-face with Sean Chaney, the Badger Claw Kid, a bounty worth $400, and is intent on capturing him, as well. With a little otherworldly, albeit not entirely helpful, advice from her ghost guide Roscoe, Honey will have to take down two dangerous fugitives. But, when she runs into a fireball-throwing ghost bent on revenge, her real adventure begins.

This third installment of the Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter series reunites the reader with the unique cast from Honey’s previous adventures as well as introducing some new characters sure to return. This quirky cast shares in the ultimate theme of the novel, good old-fashioned “help your fellow man.” Only with the help of Agnes, Honey’s mother, the madam of the Tasty Chicken Emporium; her thoroughbred racing mule, Pickles; and Roscoe, the mind-reading ghost, is Honey able to rid the Wyoming Territory of bad guys. This theme permeates every aspect of the plot. Most of the citizens of Fry Pan Gulch perform some act of kindness for another character. From gifting poor children with small treats to hiring criminals to keep them out of trouble, the townspeople’s pay-it-forward attitude embodies the spirit of what most readers associate with a simpler, kinder time in American history. These tiny acts of humanity remind the reader that caring for people, not things, can make the most significant difference in someone’s life.

Warm and kind-hearted while remaining fiercely independent and tough, Honey is a woman ahead of her time. Much like her bonnet-wearing mule, Sassy, she refuses to be led blindly along but forges a path of her own, not allowing herself to worry about finding a husband and assume her womanly role as a homemaker but choosing instead to follow her “papa’s roving blood.” She has seen too much of what happens to weak women in her mother’s brothel, and she knows she could never allow herself the weakness she sees in most women. This poker-playing bounty hunter purses a life of freedom unheard of for 1879 and trades in the homestead for the dusty trail and freedom. She is more than sassy enough to hold the reader’s interest, surprising everyone except herself with what she can accomplish. But Honey isn’t the only strong woman in the novel. Agnes, Honey’s mother, owns and operates one of the most successful whorehouses in the Territory and manages to do it as “ethically” as possible. She cares about her employees and providing a safe environment where they choose to remain rather than to be enslaved by impossible contracts and cruel pimps. Even Emma and Myles’s mother show strong women. Emma is only a child herself, but she still manages to make a life for her and her unborn child by starting a sewing business. Myles’s mother, Ivy Mae, has been abandoned by her husband (stepfather to her children) and is also expecting a child. She is willing to sacrifice herself to feed her children. In this world where husbands are killed, and boyfriends shirk responsibilities, the women manage to survive – and sometimes flourish – in true female fashion!

Honey Beaulieu, “too scrawny to be a whore [and] . . . too tainted to be respectable,” will take the reader on a wild romp. With a fun dialect and a crazy cast, you’ll find yourself snorting with laughter. Chances are, readers new to the rip-roaring, laugh out loud, side-splitting Rogers universe will want to check out the first and second books in the series: Hot Work in Fry Pan Gulch, Honey Beaulieu, Man Hunter #1 and Sidetracked in Silver City, Honey Beaulieu, Man Hunter #2!

January 13, 2020
DAVID and AVSHALOM: Life and Death in the Forest of Angels by Bernard Mann – Ancient History, Augmented Historical Accounts, Jewish Literature and Fiction

Debut novelist Bernard Mann has diligently researched a wide-ranging saga centered on the life, loves, songs, and struggles of King David, a central figure in the Old Testament and author of the Book of Psalms.

The tale begins at a crucial stage of David’s life as he is escaping the wrath of King Saul. Once a father-figure to the former shepherd boy, Saul’s view of David sours when the majority of his subjects begin to revere David over him. David flees with a small band of loyal stalwarts. He is still a fast friend to Saul’s son and likely successor, Jonathan, and is married to Saul’s daughter Maacah. Moreover, he still holds fast to his faith in God and continues to compose poems and songs in praise of Him. When both Saul and Jonathan perish in battle, David takes up the struggle, amasses an army, receives the crown, and seizes the city of Jerusalem, making it the seat of Israelite power.

The title, David and Avshalom, is reflective of the King’s sin of infidelity and murder. David lusts after his general’s wife. He sends the soldier to the front line of battle with a cryptic deadly message so he can take Batsheva as his lover and wife. David loses two precious sons, one of them his beloved Avshalom (often spelled “Absalom”) whom he had hoped to crown as his successor.

The details of King David’s life, as told in the Bible, are generally accepted. Mann includes augmented material in this lengthy portrait of one of history’s most significant players, whose actions in the restoration of the city of Jerusalem impact the region today. Portions of psalms (poetry/songs) speckle the narrative, put in place as the inspiration to critical junctures in the King’s life, such as the death of Samuel or the conquest of Goliath.

One aspect of David’s personality that Mann stresses is his respect for women. Calling together numerous scribes to begin recording his people’s history, David is introduced to the works of Judith and includes them and the writings of other women in the endeavor. Here is a king who contradicts the standard practices of the day and honors his daughters equally with his sons.

An international architecture expert, Mann pieced David’s exploits together by drawing on several books of the Bible – Samuel I and II, Joshua, Kings I, Chronicles I, and Psalms. He describes his book as “presented in fictional fabric” while assuring the reader of its scholarly sources and attributions. He has included some lesser-known facts about his main character – alliances, weaponry, and, again, the belief in the equality of women. Mann proclaims, “… David…was cast by the Lord in a different mold than that of any other man.”

The result? Mann delivers smart text, worthy of study, as well as a lively plot capable of engaging thoughtful readers. His prose is rich and his imagination equally so, as he brings King David back to life in a fresh way sure to invite attention and appreciation.

David and Avshalom: Life and Death in the Forest of Angels won First Place in the 2018 CIBAs, Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction.

January 13, 2020
A PROFESSOR and MRS. MORIARTY MYSTERY: Moriarty Takes His Medicine, Book 2 by Anna Castle – Historical Mystery

In Anna Castle’s British historical, cozy mystery novel, Moriarty Takes His Medicine, we find James Moriarty and his new bride, Angeline, struggling with their exciting, new relationship once the dust settles, so to speak.

James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, is a man who cares deeply for his wife, so much so, that he is driven to distraction and embraces the help of his former foe as an ally to help rescue Angelina from grave danger.

Sound like a melodrama? It is. Melodrama at it’s best, with strong women characters from the 1880s in several roles, providing a 2020 twist to the male-dominated period. That being said, Castle is no slouch when it comes to providing accurate historical details. She’s done her research and offers it up in an engaging and entertaining novel. The health spas and health tonics of the time provides an impressive backdrop to the mystery she develops, as Sherlock Holmes comes to Moriarty for help on a curious case, the death of a beloved aunt whose nephew suspects foul play. Together Moriarty and Holmes uncover a plot of devious mischief by medical professionals at a high-end spa/hospital where several elderly women and wealthy wives have stayed, only to die unexpectedly at home. Castle begins with the death of one woman.

Moriarty, Holmes, and Watson find that many of the women’s deaths went unchallenged because they all died at home after their stay, pointing to their own negligence and not that of the hospital, a devious plan, to say the least. Dr. Watson plays a small but crucial role at the beginning of their investigation as he uncovers the meaning behind “the Clennam treatment,” referring to a character from Little Dorritt, a Charles Dickens novel. And so, as Holmes is want to say, the game’s afoot.

Angelina’s past as a performer, a vocation she sorely misses, provides her with a means to help when she realizes her sister is being sent to the notorious spa for “the Clennam” treatment, code for “kill her.” Angelina takes on the most dangerous role of her life when she finds herself under the “Clennam” treatment.

Castle introduces the tonic as one in a series of archaic and debunked methods of treatment. She also explores aspects of electric shock therapy, and “the rest cure,” a popular method of treating a nervous and perhaps unruly woman to a treatment that did nothing to cure the root cause of their ailments. Alas, at that time, the men knew best even when they were wrong.

Castle turns this male-dominated society on its head. Women display their strength and ability to problem solve as they help to resolve this crime, and they do it with the full support of their men. A very satisfying twist on the social norms of the time, which brings us to a satisfactory conclusion.

In the end, we have something akin to a Shakespeare “comedy,” all the “good” characters live, all the lovers end up happily together, and all the villains fail and are doomed to suffer.

As the second novel in a series, this book could stand-alone. This romp through the beloved world of Sherlock Holmes will surprise you at every turn and please Sherlockians as well as lovers of British cozy mystery fans.

Moriarty Takes His Medicine won First Place in the 2018 CIBAs for Mystery and Mayhem.

January 8, 2020