#Review & Excerpt - I Died for Beauty by Amanda Flower #Mystery #Historical

Series: An Emily Dickinson Mystery # 3
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Release Date: February 25, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery / Historical

When a blaze takes both a neighbor’s home and his life, Emily Dickinson and her maid Willa have a burning desire to crack the case in this new historical mystery from Agatha Award–winning author Amanda Flower.

Amherst, 1857. The Dickinson family braves one of the worst winters in New England’s history. Trains are snowbound and boats are frozen in the harbor. Emily Dickinson and her maid, Willa Noble, have never witnessed anything like it. As Amherst families attempt to keep their homes warm, fears of fire abound.

These worries prove not to be unfounded as a blaze breaks out just down the street from the Dickinson in Kelley Square, the Irish community in Amherst, and a young couple is killed, leaving behind their young child. Their deaths appear to be a tragic accident, but Emily finds herself harboring suspicions there may be more to the fire than meets the eye. Emily and Willa must withstand the frigid temperatures and discover a killer lurking among the deadly frost.

"Long years apart can make no breach a second cannot fill; the absence of the witch does not invalidate the spell." Emily Dickinson

I Died For Beauty is the third and apparent final installment in author Amanda Flower's An Emily Dickinson Mystery series. This historical series features Willa Noble, maid to iconic American poet Emily Dickinson, who solves mysteries with her new employer, even though Emily's family tends to look down their noses at the relationship between the pair. This story takes place in Amherst in the year 1857. The Dickinson family braves one of the worst winters in New England’s history. Trains are snowbound, and boats are frozen in the harbor. 

Emily and Willa Noble have never witnessed anything like it. There is a sharp class distinction between Emily’s upper-class family and the hired help. Emily’s family, especially Emily's sister Lavinia, can’t understand why Emily is friends with someone beneath them. Willa's boss, Margaret O'Brien (who was a real person), is often curious, and maybe jealous that Willa spends too much time with Emily. Willa is stuck in an impossible position. She is well aware the Dickinson's see her as someone beneath their class. Emily loves her family but is headstrong, confident, and full of ideas and opinions. 

She is full of ideas and opinions that many consider bold. Her determination can be daunting to others. She doesn’t like rigid structures and has a keen sense of justice. As Amherst families attempt to keep their homes warm, fears of fire abound. As the Dickinson's are asked to help out a poor family in town by taking them food and other supplies, they are also awakened in the middle of the night by the ringing of bells – a house fire is blazing in the middle of town. Thanks to Carlo, Emily’s Newfoundland dog (a real dog who followed Emily all over town), Emily and Willa discover a child, Norah Rose, in the woods. 

Her parents appear to have died tragically in the fire, but Emily finds herself harboring suspicions there may be more to the fire than meets the eye. While Emily's sister-in-law, and likely only real friend Susan, takes Norah Rose in temporarily as they attempt to find relatives for her to live with, Emily and Willa must withstand the frigid temperatures and discover a killer lurking among the deadly frost. As with previous novels, Flower tends to add real-life characters to her story, like Lucy Stone, who was one of the first women in the US to travel around the country fighting for women's rights. But as always, it is not the men who are the problem but the women. 

Over the course of the story, and searching for the reason for the deaths of Norah Rose's parents, it seems as though Norah Rose will only speak with Willa, which makes for a very interesting dynamic later in the story. I found the ending to be pretty emotional. If you've read this series from the beginning, Emily seems to have had agoraphobia and only left the house with her dog, who she later penned a poem after he left this world. Meanwhile, Willa has been avoiding Officer Matthew, who wants more from her. With Norah Rose in the picture, could it be that Willa will finally take the plunge? 

Note: Each of the three books in this series was named after poems written by Emily Dickinson. 

I died for Beauty - but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room -

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied -
"And I - for Truth - Themself are One -
We Brethren are",  He said -

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night —
We talked between the Rooms -
Until the Moss had reached our lips -
And covered up  - Our names - Emily Dickinson

chapter one

I'd never been this cold. Despite the three pairs of stockings on my feet, I no longer felt my toes. Nor could I feel my hands with two pairs of mittens on them. I looked down at my hands from time to time to reassure myself that I still held the market basket. It was not as heavy as I hoped nor as full as my employers would have wished.

The trains had stopped running days ago. Snowdrifts up to ten feet high blocked their path. It was the worst winter in my memory or in the memory of anyone I knew. We all felt the pinch from the Cold Storm of 1857.

December had been snowy, but it seemed that January was taking it upon itself to prove it could surpass the very worst of weather the last year or even the last decade had to offer.

Here in Amherst, the mercury was twenty degrees below zero, but I also heard that the same temperatures were crippling points as far south as Washington. The cold was torture here, but at least we expected harsh winters. It must have come as a shock to the Southern belles and fine gentlemen in the capital.

I was grateful Horace, the Dickinsons' grounds keeper, had shoveled a path from the street to both the front and back doors of the homestead. Without that cleared path, my skirt would have been soaked through in no time at all. Even so it was narrow, just wide enough for one man to pass, so I had to grip my skirts and hold the market basket out in front of myself like I was making some sort of offering to the winter gods that caused this weather. The way I held my arms out reminded me of the mummy illustrations in the volume of ancient Egyptian history in Mr. Dickinson's library.

Margaret O'Brien, the head maid at the homestead, met me at the back door that led into the laundry. She took the basket from my hands so quickly I felt a sharp pain in my stiff fingers. "Get in here before you let the heat out," she said in her Irish lilt.

I stepped into the laundry and made sure the back door was firmly closed behind me. I placed the heavy blanket back in its place at the foot of the door to keep out the draft. I removed my bonnet, cloak, mittens, boots, and two pairs of stockings, which I tucked into the boots. When I was out of the boots, I changed into my house shoes. It was a relief to not be buried under so much fabric, but much of the cold that the cloak held at bay hit me like an icy wave crashing into Boston Harbor.

In the kitchen Margaret unpacked the basket. "Where is my molasses? And where is the cinnamon I asked for?"

Emily Dickinson came into the kitchen just then, quietly and lightly as she always did. She moved around the place like a house wren that popped up here and there on an unexpected branch in the garden.

Emily was the eldest daughter in the house and the most puzzling of the Dickinsons. While her sister, Miss Lavinia, was straightforward and direct, Emily tended to weave her thoughts into verse and she felt no need to explain in common language their meaning or purpose.

"Willa," she said with a smile. "You're back. You must be frozen to your very bones. Margaret, set a stool by the stove, so she can warm herself."

Grudgingly, Margaret started to walk to the stool.

I hurried on unsteady feet stiff with cold. "There is no need. As soon as I start working, I will warm up quickly."

Emily eyed me as if she was not so sure of that, but to my relief, she didn't argue with me. It was my wish not to annoy Margaret any more with my unusual friendship with Emily than she was already. The more special treatment that Emily gave me as her friend, the more Margaret O'Brien resented me.

I knew a second maid claiming an upper-class educated young lady as a friend was unexpected to say the least. However, over the last two years that I had worked in the Dickinson home, Emily had become my friend as much as she could be, considering our stations in life, and I was appreciative for the bond. She was there when I lost my brother, Henry, and I would always be grateful to her for that.

Emily looked over the items that Margaret unpacked from the basket. "Where is my coconut?"

I started to boil water on the stove to wash the breakfast dishes that I had left undone to run to the market. Usually, the market boy delivered to the homestead. With the harsh weather, all deliveries save the milkman had stopped. That was a blessing as it was so cold that our cow had stopped producing milk.

"I'm sorry, Miss Dickinson," I said. "But the grocer told me that there was no coconut in all of Amherst. With the cold, the trains can't make it in. The rails are too icy for clear passage, and the ones that are not icy are blocked with fallen trees or feet of snow."

Emily sighed. "I suppose there go my plans to make a coconut cake for supper in order to raise all of our spirits. I was very much looking forward to doing that. Baking is the very best way for me to let my mind wander and discover new poems that are waiting to be written. Baking and being in the garden at least. It seems with this weather that option is off the table as well."

"We have the ingredients for your black cake," Margaret chimed in. "I believe there is just enough molasses left. You can bake that and let your mind wander to your heart's content." She added this last bit with a touch of disapproval in her voice that Emily either didn't notice or simply didn't care about. I guessed the latter as there was very little that my mistress missed.

"Are we nearly out of molasses too?" Emily asked. "What is the world coming to?"

Margaret shook her head. It was times like this when I longed to be able to read her thoughts. I was certain that she had a few things that she wished she could say about Emily's comment.

Emily clicked her tongue as if in dismay. "What will become of us when there is no molasses or coconut?"

I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from saying many people live without these luxuries. In fact, I had never even known of coconuts until I began working at the Dickinson home. They were so exotic to me. Having grown up with nothing gave me a perspective that Emily didn't have. I did not hold it against my friend, but it was a painful reminder of the vast chasm between our life experiences.

"I'll make some sort of pound cake instead," Emily declared. "Something simple, yet bright and festive. We should save the molasses as there is no telling when we will get more."

"Surely, this cold can't go on for more than a day or two more," Margaret said.

"You have said that for two weeks, Margaret, and it has given no indication of stopping. The papers say it could go into March. Father has been watching the barometer in his office and makes doom-filled pronouncements about the weather to come."

Margaret sniffed. "I don't know how that gadget of gears and dials can predict the weather. Only a well-aged farmer can do so accurately." She said this like that was all she had to say on the matter.

"It's science, Margaret, and is much more reliable than an old farmer licking his finger and holding it up in the wind. Father sounded quite confident about the weather to come."

Margaret crossed herself. "Let's all pray that it doesn't come to that."

Margaret would have never made that gesture in front of any other member of the Dickinson family because it would only be a reminder that she was Irish Catholic at heart. It would make their Calvinist sensibilities most uncomfortable. As Emily had no interest in organized religion and followed a belief system of her own creation, it had no effect on her. She didn't even mind that I was raised Baptist, which some members of the Dickinsons' church found appalling.

Margaret caught me listening to their conversation. "Willa, get on with the dishes and when that is done, dust and polish in the parlor as long as the family is not in the room."

I nodded and set to work. The hot water seeped into my frozen skin, and it was both painful and welcome.

Shortly after Margaret and I returned to our daily tasks, Emily left the kitchen, saying she would be back in the late morning to bake her pound cake, as they did not take as much time to make as her coconut cake would have.

When I finished the dishes and had dried them and tucked them away, I went through the dining room into the parlor. I was happy to see that everything in the dining room was polished and put away. Typically, that was my task, but Margaret had taken it upon herself when I was at the market. I would thank her for it later even though she would outwardly scoff at the gratitude while inwardly enjoying it.

I was just stepping into the family parlor when the terrifying scent of smoke tickled my nose. I hurried inside the front parlor to find an ember from the fireplace had made its way through the screen and smoldered on the edge of the carpet.

I stamped it out with my shoe with my heart beating out of my chest. Had I not been there at that very time, there was no telling what would have happened.

I pulled my foot away from the spot and there was the faintest of burns no larger than a penny on the colorful carpet. I wondered how I could remove the stain without anyone being the wiser.

My hopes to keep the incident quiet were dashed when Mr. Dickinson stormed into the room. "Do I smell something burning?"

Emily and Miss Lavinia were just steps behind him.

Mr. Dickinson was not a large man but formidable all the same. He had a receding hairline, and what hair he had on the sides of his head stuck out in triangular tufts. His brow was heavy and thick as were his sideburns. His nose was pointed and sharp, almost like a beak. He was the very last person that I would have wanted to find me in this current state.

The urge to place my foot back over the burn spot was overwhelming, but I stopped myself. I did not want to look like I was covering something up as though this was my fault.

"Willa, are you all right?" Emily asked.

"Yes, miss," I murmured, and kept my eyes pointed at my shoes.

"What has happened here?" Mr. Dickinson asked. "Have you burned a hole into the carpet, you careless girl?"

I could feel my body quake, and I willed it to stop. I was about to be sacked. I just knew it. Honestly, it was a miracle that I had lasted two long years. I thought most of that had to do with Emily's intervention when it came to her father.

She came to my rescue again. "Father, please. Willa would never do that!" She nodded to me. "Willa, tell us what happened."

"Thank you, miss." I took a breath and was determined to keep my voice steady. "I had just come into the front parlor to start the dusting when I smelled a hint of smoke. I saw an ember had come through the gate and fallen to the carpet. I stamped it out with my foot." I held up the toe of my shoe as if that was proof in some way. "It must have just happened as I was coming into the room. I was grateful I was here, miss. Most grateful."

"As are we," Emily said. "The whole of the house could have been lost!" She turned to her father. "See, she saved us all!"

"When was this hearth last cleaned?" Mr. Dickinson asked.

It took me a moment to realize that he was speaking to me. The father of the home rarely addressed any question to me. If he wanted information from me, it was relayed back and forth through Margaret and at times, Miss Lavinia.

"Yesterday morning, sir."

"But not today?" he roared. "Why not?"

"The fires were made in haste, sir," I admitted. "I had to go to the market as there is no delivery due to the cold."

"That is not acceptable. Every hearth must be cleaned every day until this weather breaks. I will not lose this house after I spent a lifetime earning it back. More people die of fires than the cold," he snapped. "Remember that."

I swallowed. My throat felt swollen, but I managed to speak. "I can clean the hearth now, Mr. Dickinson, if it is your wish."

"I expect you to," he said, and left the room.

Miss Lavinia, who was dark-haired and petite like Emily, if a bit thicker, made a move to leave the room and stopped in the doorway. "Don't let Willa cut corners, Emily, simply because you think of her as your friend," she said snidely, and left.

Emily patted my arm. "Do not worry about them, Willa. I still believe that you are a heroine."

"I don't feel like one," I said.

"You cannot put a fire out a thing that can ignite," she said, and left the room leaving me to wonder what fire she meant.

chapter two

When the family left the room, I began to roll up the hearth rug and set to work. As there was already a fire in the hearth, I would have to snuff it out before cleaning. The fire's remnants would be hot, but I didn't believe I had any other choice in the matter but to set it to rights. I had to clean it quickly and set the fire again before the room grew too cold to stand.

In an hour, I scoured the hearth from top to bottom and front to back. I'd never done such a thorough job cleaning a fireplace before, but Mr. Dickinson's mention of fire scared me. In my mind's eye, I could still see that ember smoldering on the carpet.

Emily's large brown dog, Carlo, wandered into the room when I was in the middle of cleaning. He flopped in the family parlor in front of the piano. The pocket doors between the two rooms stood open. Until I was done with the task, no member of the family would come into the parlor for fear of getting soot on their clothes.

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#Review - Right Behind Her by Melinda Leigh #Thriller #Suspense

Series: Bree Taggert # 4
Format: Kindle, 315 pages
Release Date: September 14, 2021
Publisher: Montlake
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense

The discovery of human remains unearths another nightmare from Sheriff Bree Taggert’s past in a bone-chilling thriller by #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

Twenty-seven years ago, Sheriff Bree Taggert’s father killed her mother, then himself. Now Bree and her younger brother, Adam, find human bones on the grounds of their abandoned family farm. The remains are those of a man and a woman, both murdered in the same horrible way.

When the investigation determines the murders occurred thirty years ago, Bree’s dead father becomes a suspect, forcing Bree to revisit the brutal night she’s spent most of her life trying to forget. The only other suspect is an unlikely squatter on the Taggert farm who claims to know secrets about Bree’s past. When he mysteriously disappears and Bree’s niece is kidnapped, the cold case heats up.

Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who’ll do anything to keep his identity—and motives—a secret. To protect everyone she loves, Bree must confront a killer.

Right Behind Her is the fourth installment of author Melinda Leigh's Bree Taggart series. The book is set in the fictional town of Grey’s Hollow in Randolph County. There is a saying that even the deepest buried secrets can find their way to the surface; no matter how well a secret is hidden, it has the potential to be revealed eventually. For Sheriff Bree Taggart, who has only been sheriff for a few months after she returned home to investigate her sister's murder, she's still digging out the mess from the previous sheriff, and now it seems that she may have to revisit a past she's tried hard to bury.  

For the first time in 27 years, Bree and her younger brother Adam, who is an artist, are visiting their abandoned family farm that Adam recently purchased. A home that Bree had refused to visit because of all the bad memories. Unlike Adam, she remembers everything from that awful day she lost both of her parents. They find an intruder hiding in the barn who attacks Bree and is ultimately arrested. Then, with the help of Matt Flynn and his K-9 Greta, they find old bones on the property belonging to a man and woman who were murdered in a gruesome way thirty years ago, perhaps by her father. 

Bree, Matt, and Deputy Chief Todd Harvey must dig up 30 years of secrets and history to find out who the dead are and who was responsible, even if it means looking into her own family's tragic history. When the horse Bree rides on in a parade is shot by paintballs, it's a message. When Bree’s niece is kidnapped soon thereafter, it appears Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who’ll do anything to keep his identity—and motives—a secret. To protect everyone she loves, Bree must confront a killer, and protect her family.

It is fair to say that everything that happened 27 years ago formed who Bree has become as a person and as a law enforcement officer. And, even though she's been reluctant to open herself up to anyone romantically, that ice in her heart has thawed thanks to Matt and his beautiful dogs like Greta, who have taught Bree to trust again and to love. Her relationship with her sister's kids, Luke and Kayla, is also coming along now that they know that Bree isn't going to abandon them like Bree was abandoned as an 8-year-old. While this series is just getting started, so is the trouble ahead for Bree, thanks to the people in her department, which I foresee coming to a head quickly. 

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#Review - The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado #Thriller #Suspense

Series: Nina Guerrera # 1
Format: Kindle, 336 pages
Release Date: November 1, 2020
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense

To a cunning serial killer, she was the one that got away. Until now…

FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.

His coded riddles may have made him a depraved social media superstar—an enigmatic cyber-ghost dubbed “the Cipher”—but to Nina he’s a monster who preys on the vulnerable. Partnered with the FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, who is haunted by his own past, Nina tracks the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches.

The Cipher is the first installment in author Isabella Maldonado's Nina Guerrera's series. FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. She spent time as a beat cop and went on to the FBI academy where she became a successful FBI agent. When she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Shortly afterwards a young girl is found murdered and clues are left to suggest that Nina's attacker of 11 years earlier is the killer. 

Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation but his games are just beginning. He publishes them on his social media platforms for the whole world to see and to try to solve them, thus creating an uncontrollable mass chaos where people from all over the USA start clue-hunting much to the inconvenience of the FBI. His cruelty, cleverness, and his obsession with special agent Nina Guerrera that led him to all the atrocities I thought were the most intriguing aspects of the story. 

Nina and her temporary team of agents, including FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, the Behavioral Analysis Unit guy who nearly got her booted out because he thought her judgment couldn't be trusted. Nina and her team play cat and mouse with a horrible serial killer known as The Cipher. They track the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches. Each gruesome murder, every social media post goes viral, leaving the Nina and her FBI team not only racing against time to stop the killer but also against amateur sleuth-wannabes who want to be the first to solve the crimes and win a prize. 

The Cipher did nothing new as far as detective thrillers go, being a classic "guy abused by father turns into a psycho serial killer" story. What made it more enjoyable for me was the killer who called himself The Cipher and his tactics. I also liked how the author uses her years of training to make this story more realistic. As with the previous series, it seems the author writes a trilogy and then moves on to something new. So, let's finish this series, shall we?

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#Review - Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland #Fantasy

Series: The Broken Blades # 1
Format: Kindle, 512 pages
Release Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Fantasy

The king of Yusan must die.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.

He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.

And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.

They can agree on murder.

They can agree on treachery.

But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.

Let the best liar win.

Five Broken Blades is the first installment in author Mai Corland's The Broken Blades series. This book focuses on a group of people who are brought together in order to kill the King of Yusan who calls himself the God King. He claims to be immortal because he wears the crown of the former Dragon Lord who left powerful artifacts behind. But apparently, someone has found a way to kill the king, and replace him with someone who has been banished. As with most epic fantasy novels, this story takes our characters on a journey that will end in tragedy, or success.

The characters are Royo, a muscle for hire who vows to protect a young woman he barely knows; Euyn, formerly a prince of Yusan, and brother to King Joon, until he hunted people for sport; Sora, stolen along with her sister Daysum, she becomes one of only two poison maidens in Yusan but she desires to pay off her debt and be free; Aeri, the mysterious young woman who seems to be a really good thief, or a really good liar, who apparently wants to impress her father; Mikail, royal spymaster and lover of Euyn; and Tiyung, young heir to the man who turned Sora into an assassin. 

Five of the most dangerous liars plus Tiyung have to learn to work together to commit an assassination. You get multiple different first-person POVs, and the characters were easy to keep separate because they each had their own unique personalities and wants/outcomes from the mission. My favorite character was Sora, the poison maiden. I found her character to be so unique and totally badass! She was one of 18 girls who were sold to a count and put through an illegal poison school where they were slowly dosed with poisons so they'd become immune. 

If they want to survive, they have to trust each other, which is easier said than done since they all have their own secrets and only one of them can take the crown. It’s a fast-paced story with plenty of action and chapters that end in a way that makes you not want to put the book down. It can get dark and violent at times (not a complaint) and some of the backstories are truly disturbing in a world where indentured servitude, misogyny, and slaughter are the norm, but there are also lighter moments of humor, comradery, and romance as well. 

The worse characters in my opinion were Mikail and Euyn. Mikail's actions in this book lead to heart ache and betrayal, while Euyn is just plain boring, and obsessed. Royo is a hardcase. He gets paid to be a strongman, but when he meets Aeri, he thinks he found a way out of the life he has been trying to get out of for years. Although this is sold as a Romantasy, I couldn't care less if the characters actually found love or not. And, finally, yes this book ends on a cliffhanger because the author needs a reason for readers to continue to read the sequel. 

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#Review - Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian #Paranormal #Fantasy

Series: Spells for Life and Death # 1
Format: Hardcover, 560 pages
Release Date: January 30, 2025
Publisher: Tor UK
Source: Publisher
Genre: Paranormal / Fantasy

A Discovery of Witches meets The Atlas Six in Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian, a dark contemporary fantasy from a brilliant new talent. Modern Divination is the first book in the Spells for Life and Death duology.

The color of magic was gold . . .

Twenty-three-year-old witch Aurelia Schwartz has always had to carefully balance her human life with her secret magical one. With a place at an elite Cambridge university college, she almost has everything she could possibly want within her grasp. Just so long as she follows the rules: Make no promises. Tell no one what you are. And never stay the night.

Except Aurelia’s gift of green magic has begun to fade. Worse still, someone is hunting witches – and stealing their powers. Reluctantly, Aurelia needs the help of fellow witch – and dreadfully arrogant classmate – Theodore Ingram. Together, they seek refuge among his family in the remote corners of an already-desolate town. But as she grows closer to Theodore, the power-hungry witch-killer, too, draws nearer. And they threaten to destroy everything Aurelia holds dear . . .

Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian is a magical cozy fantasy with witches, featuring an academic rivals-to-lovers romance, found family and yearning.

Modern Divination is the first installment in author Isabel Agajanian's Spells of Life and Death duology. It is also the authors debut. Key Characters: Aurelia Schwartz, and Theodore Ingram. This story actually begins with a witch on the hunt. She wants to become the rising sun for a new generation of witches, and if that means killing witches, and taking their powers, so be it. Meanwhile, Aurelia, who is allegedly a green witch who can make plants grow, or die, is studying at Cambridge's King's College where she seems to have an antagonist relationship with one Theodore Ingram. 

She's a PHD candidate from the US in occult symbolism while also keeping the fact that she's a witch from being discovered by anyone, let alone her nemesis who has treated her badly for years, as well as her confused roommate named Ryan. However, when a friend of Aurelia and Teddy is murdered, Teddy approaches Aurelia of getting away from town for awhile until they can uncover who was responsible. Call it a tentative alliance if you must. Aurelia’s vehement opposition to Ingram seemed so absolute. They lived to be at each other's throats with extended claws and venomous words, him epitomizing everything she hated yet coveted.

There are many things that bothered me about this story, mostly personal, but the main reason for the rating is the distrust and anger that Aurelia seems send towards Teddy, even after he apologizes and offers an olive branch to meet Gemma Eckley and her perky daughter Louisa. Teddy is soon calling her Rory, and the next thing you know, the ice is broken, and the romance seems to be hitting it off. But then Gemma disappears, Rory is attacked by a witch who tells Rory that she is wrong about her magic, that she needs it, and she also needs Teddy's. 

To top it off, Teddy seems to actually hate his own parents with a passion, even after he is badly hurt. Most egregious of all was the villain Leona Sum. To be perfectly honest, she's cartoonish in nature. Her motivations are flimsy and almost comically evil, and they don't emerge until the climax, in a dramatic villain monologue. The only character I didn't hate, was Louisa. Also, the ending leaves room for something, and I am not sure I am willing to finish reading this series to find out what happens next. 

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#Review - Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong #Mystery #Suspense

Series: Haven's Rock (#3)
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town's residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the knick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman's last movements, the two question who they can trust—and can't—in their seemingly safe haven.

Cold as Hell is the Third installment in author Kelley Armstrong's Haven's Rock series, which you know is a spin-off of the author's Rockton series. Living at Haven's Rock is never dull. You are living in the middle of Yukon. You are dealing with dangers you've never seen in the city, and the weather can be tricky. It is a place for people to disappear and start over. Residents must rely on the land, each other, and Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, to keep them safe. Both are dedicated to their jobs and keeping the people of Haven's Rock safe. 

But there are more challenges. Especially when Casey is 8 months pregnant and waiting until she has to leave to have the baby, which her sister April all but pushes her to go so she doesn't have the baby here. But baby or not, things are always tense in a town that Casey and Dalton built with help from their friends. When a knock on their door comes in the middle of the night, Casey and Dalton know there's trouble. It seems that a woman has been attacked but thankfully saved by a local resident. Soon thereafter, another woman goes missing and is found murdered. 

As the storm blows in literally, Casey and Dalton struggle to find the killer before Casey ends up having her baby in the snow instead of a hospital. As Casey and Dalton investigate the assault, the two wonder who they can trust in their supposedly safe haven. After all, there are people in town who have a history of violence and are willing to push the envelope in order to keep friends safe from outsiders. Casey and Duncan made sure that they made changes in policy when they began building Haven’s Rock, and thanks to Emilie, their beneficiary, things seem to be clearer regarding who arrives and who doesn't. 

But no system is perfect, and once again, it seems that someone in Haven is not supposed to be here. Casey wonders if it's their fault that they are not investigating people who come here more thoroughly before arriving. With only 3 real police in town, they have to walk a line between doing what's right and doing what's best for those who live here. This is a story where almost everyone is in suspense, even those who came here from Rockton. The author once again brings the reality of the Yukon to light. The climate of their remote town is almost a character in itself, with winter blizzards, dangers in the surrounding forest, and their isolation from society. One could say that Casey's pregnancy is more of a story than the mystery of the killer because this is her first time getting this far, and anything can happen and does, including a direct fight for her life against the Haven killer. 

CHAPTER ONE


A fist pounds on our chalet door. I lift my head to squint at the clock. 1:16.

A knock in the wee hours of the morning is never good.

Beside me, Dalton makes a noise that could be a curse or could just be a still-half-asleep grunt.

“I’ll go see what it is,” I say, patting his arm as I rise.

He starts making another sound, one that might be sleepy acceptance. Then he bolts upright.

“No!” he says, as if I’ve suggested running into a burning building. “You stay. I’ve got this.”

“I’m already out of bed.”

“Then get back in it.”

In the moonlight I can see Storm, our Newfoundland, look from one of us to the other. Then she sighs.

“Sorry, pup,” I say, patting her with my foot. “He’s a little weird these days. I have no idea why.”

“For the same reason you’re petting the dog with your foot instead of bending down to use your hand.” Dalton points at the cause of my inability to bend—my eight-month-pregnant belly. Which, yes, is the same reason he’s leaping out of bed to answer the door instead of just gratefully staying where it’s warm.

“I’m fine,” I say. “Even April’s long list of ‘things Casey can’t do’ does not include answering doors.”

“Yeah, but if it doesn’t include ‘going down the stairs in the middle of the night,’ it should.”

I could point out that going down a flight of stairs while sleepy is always dangerous, and no more so when heavily pregnant, but when we started this journey, I knew I was going to have to deal with Dalton’s protective streak. Or, more accurately, deal with him using my pregnancy as an excuse to indulge his protective streak.

Also, granted, it’s not purely indulgence. Old damage to my uterus means I could have issues. In eight months, I’ve had two scares, one where I’d been certain I’d miscarry, and one a month ago, where there was some concern I’d gone into early labor. Being seven months along meant it would have been a premature birth. Not a huge problem … if I were living down south with access to proper preemie care.

Dalton had been ready to take me to Vancouver so we could spend my last two months in an apartment, preferably one close enough to a hospital that he could carry me there in an emergency. My sister had been on his side … because as the local doctor, she’s the one who’d need to deal with premature birth, and she’s a neurosurgeon, not an obstetrician. Fortunately, my actual obstetrician convinced them both that I was fine where I was. In an emergency, Dalton could fly me to Whitehorse himself and she would come up to the hospital there.

So I understand if he’s fussing over me walking down the stairs. It isn’t as if we intentionally put ourselves in this position. It was an accidental pregnancy that we decided to continue while knowing the risks. And I decided to continue it while knowing he was going to freak out if anything went wrong, including false alarms.

Another pound on the door below.

“Stay here,” Dalton says, pointing at the bed.

When I glower, he says, “Keep her here,” to Storm. Then he leaves, and Storm heaves to her feet, walks three paces, and collapses in the doorway.

I turn my glower on her. “Traitor.”

She only lets out a slobbery sigh and watches me with all the patience of Nana in Peter Pan. Having a Newfoundland means I understand why Barrie chose one for his canine nanny. She’s the sweetest and most patient dog imaginable, but also, if she’s in that doorway, I am not getting out of this room.

Below, Dalton answers the front door.

“We have a problem,” a voice says. “I know you aren’t going to want Casey getting up at this hour, but I think she needs to take this one.”

I scramble to get ready without even hearing my husband’s probably profane response. It isn’t that the caller sounds panicked or even stressed. The voice is perfectly calm with just the right hint of apology.

If I didn’t know the speaker, I’d think that tone meant a very minor problem, an inconvenience and an annoyance that unfortunately did require my personal touch … such as our deputy being unable to access the gun locker because baby brain meant I misplaced the key again.

The speaker, though, is Sebastian.

Sebastian had been our youngest resident in Rockton, and at twenty-two, he’s still the youngest adult resident in Haven’s Rock. He came to Rockton because he’s too infamous to live a normal life down south. At the age of eleven he killed his parents. He had his reasons, but no court would consider them a defense. If he had a defense, it’s that he was an undiagnosed sociopath who thought this seemed a valid solution to the problem of rich parents who wouldn’t let him attend school because it interfered with their social calendar. He served his time and while serving it, he dealt with his diagnosis and continues to deal with it. He’s not a serial killer. He has no interest in hurting anyone. He just needed to understand that murder is not a valid problem-solving strategy.

All this means it’s really hard to rattle Sebastian. Maybe impossible. He could stumble over a dead body, and unless it’s someone he cares about, his response would be purely practical. Go find someone to deal with it.

I dress and tell Storm to move. Her eyes roll up to meet mine, her disapproval clear, but she’s technically my dog, and she knows it. She lumbers to her feet and down the stairs.

I expect Dalton to spot her and tell me he can handle this, but before Storm’s even down the stairs, he’s at the bottom, looking up, his expression grim.

“You do need to handle this,” he says.

“What happened?”

Sebastian pops in behind him. “Kendra was attacked. She’s fine—unhurt, that is. But it seems … Well, it looks as if someone dosed her in the Roc and dragged her into the woods.”

“Dragged—”

He lifts his hands. “They didn’t do anything to her. She got away in time. But, yeah, that’s why I, uh, thought you should come. Because it looks as if they planned to…”

He trails off, and genuine emotion flashes over his face. He likes Kendra, and that flash is undiluted anger. He reins it in fast.

“I thought of going after them, but that didn’t seem like a good idea. So I helped Kendra instead.”

“Thank you. Where is she?”

“At the clinic with your sister.”

* * *

Sexual assault had always been a serious concern in Rockton. The population had been three-quarters male with no couples allowed, and as law enforcement, we’d been dealing with the potentially explosive situation of women escaping victimization and men who could be victimizers snuck in under a cover story. Explosive and completely unacceptable, but Dalton’s only option had been solid policing and the strictest of penalties. Oh, and there was a brothel—women residents were allowed to sell sex. Isabel and I had endless disagreements over that, the feminist politics of consensual sex work versus the fact that it presupposed men needed that outlet or there’d be trouble. Yep, it was complicated.

Haven’s Rock has no sex trade. Unless you count Gunnar, but he’s free, so there’s no “trade” involved. We allow couples, and we have a mixed group of men and women and sexual orientations, so … Well, if you want sex and you aren’t an asshole about it, you can probably get it, especially if you’re a straight woman because … Gunnar.

Now, as a cop, I’m the first to say that sexual assault is not always about sex. The type that is about sex is the sort that involves coercion and dubious consent, where someone has manipulated a situation to get what they want. Drugging a woman in the Roc could be that sort or it could be the other sort, where it’s about control and violence.

Coercion sexual assault is the most likely scenario, whether it’s Rockton or Haven’s Rock. One would hope that anyone driven to drag a resident into the forest would realize he was going to get caught. We have seventy people in Haven’s Rock and a professional police force of three.

But if you’ve convinced yourself that you just “talked her into it,” you don’t see a crime. Even if drugs are involved, it’s their word against yours, and besides, you didn’t give them any drugs and so you thought it was consensual sex. Really.

If Kendra was attacked and possibly dosed, there is no way I’m turning this over to Dalton and Anders, as I have—grudgingly—with most of my late-pregnancy workload. I absolutely trust both of them to treat it with all due gravity and respect, and if I weren’t here, they could handle it. But I am here.

The clinic front door is unlocked. That’s the only way I know April is inside, because the windows are shuttered, blinds drawn. To avoid giving the town away at night, all of the buildings have been designed to be as close to dark as possible, even if someone has a light on, because in the dead of winter, you can’t expect people to be in bed by four when the sun sets.

I still tap on the door as I open it. Inside, it remains dark, meaning my sister unlocked the front door but didn’t turn on the waiting-area light. I don’t make it to the next door before it’s yanked open.

The first time Dalton ever saw April, he knew she was my sister. Of course, siblings often resemble each other. It’s genetics. But I grew up hearing how different we looked, and I realize now that what people really meant was that I have distinctive features that favor our Chinese-Filipino mother, and April does not, and by “distinctive features” I really mean just eye shape and skin tone. It only takes that, though, for me to look Asian and her to look white.

Get beyond that, and it’s very obvious that we’re sisters, with the same straight dark hair, heart-shaped face and cheekbones. But those differences are one of many things that drove a wedge between us growing up, the other main one being April’s previously undiagnosed place on the autism spectrum.

April steps out, flipping on the light and closing the door as she glares at me. “What are you doing here?”

I make a show of looking around. “Have I lost clinic-visit privileges? Or sister-visit privileges?”

“Both if it’s one in the morning. I thought Eric was handling all this for you.” Her glare moves to my shoulder and hardens to annoyance when Dalton isn’t there to receive it. The fact that she’s glaring at all tells me she’s out of sorts. When it comes to irritating April, Dalton gets the free pass that her little sister never does.

“April?” I motion toward the door and for her to make sure her voice is lowered so Kendra can’t hear.

Her eyes narrow.

“Considering the nature of the case,” I say, “I’m going to be here.”

“She was not sexually assaulted. Nor is it clear that was her attacker’s intention. If it were, I would have asked you to be here myself.”

“Even if the motivation is unclear but she was dosed, that could mean other residents have already been dosed and assaulted.”

“No one has come to me with such concerns.”

“But…” I gentle my tone. “If they were dosed, they may not be aware that what happened was nonconsensual. Or they may not come to the doctor unless there was … damage.”

“Oh.” She colors a little. “Yes, of course. I had not considered that.”

“May I see your patient, April?”

She nods. Then she pauses, and visibly girds herself before saying, “You were right to come.”

I could tease her about finding that so hard to admit, but it is hard. Being wrong upsets her. It feels like failure.

April leads me into the examination room, where Kendra sits cross-legged on the table.

“Lie down,” April says. “You have been drugged and should not attempt sitting.”

Kendra salutes and stretches out, arms folded over her chest like a corpse. “Can I at least get a pillow?”

I grab two from the next room, and Kendra flips onto her side, hugging one pillow as she props onto her arm.

“I will be in my office,” April says.

When April’s gone, Kendra tells me her story. She’d gone to the Roc with Yolanda. Anders and Gunnar had joined them for a while. Then Kendra had invited Lynn over, and Gunnar slipped off, with Anders following shortly after.

Kendra had two drinks, which was one past her norm, so when she’d felt tipsy after leaving, she blamed the extra booze. The problem with being intoxicated—by booze or drugs—is that your brain isn’t working well enough to assess whether “I just had too much to drink” is a valid explanation for what you’re experiencing.

The memory holes start after Yolanda left shortly before closing. Kendra stayed until the end with Lynn—having invited the other woman to join them, she didn’t want to abandon her. The next thing Kendra remembers is being on the deck of her residence, having apparently gone in and found the toilets occupied.

Unable to wait for a toilet, she’d headed for the woods. Time stutters there, as if she’d been blacking out. Someone attacked her, knocking her down and dragging her into the forest. She managed to scream, which is when Sebastian heard her—he’d been taking his dog, Raoul, for a bedtime walk. Sebastian came running, which scared off Kendra’s attacker.

“I didn’t see who grabbed me,” Kendra says. “I can’t even say for sure it was a man.” She fusses with the pillows. “I know I might have been drugged, but I still can’t believe I didn’t take two seconds to look at who had me.”

“Because you were fighting for your life, not thinking about making an ID. No one is going to wish you’d taken that risk to catch this person. That’s my job.”

Her eyes fill. “Thank you. I’m hoping I did catch a glimpse, and it’ll come to me later.”

I squeeze her hand. “Maybe it will, and if I’m a halfway decent detective, I’ll have already caught whoever attacked you.” I drop my voice. “While people think eyewitness accounts are the best kind of proof, they’re actually one of the least reliable.”

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