WWW Wednesday | My Bookish Week – Feb. 26

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

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You may wonder why I have balloons in all of my pictures. This is my birthday week and I thought I would celebrate that event in my pictures 🎈😊

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Currently Reading

Book Description

After millennial ghostwriter Trevor Moore rents an old farmhouse in Fuerteventura, he moves in to find his muse. Instead, he discovers a rucksack filled with cash. Who does it belong to – and should he hand it in… or keep it? Struggling to make up his mind, Trevor unravels the harrowing true story of a little-known concentration camp that incarcerated gay men in the 1950s and 60s.

My Thoughts

I started the book yesterday, and I am 1/3 of the way in. It is reading in almost a stream-of-consciousness style. I’m not really sure how I feel about it right now. I think it’s going to require a great deal of reflecting after I’ve finished.

Update: I just finished this novel and after scratching my head for awhile, finally I had an epiphany and can proudly say I get it. I understand the story, and the ending is absolutely brilliant – it’s just a long, hard ride getting there.

Just Finished

Book Description

The intrepid women of Mayfair 100 are up against a deadly and elusive enemy–and the darkest secrets of Britain’s upper crust–in the second nail-biting installment of Lynn Brittney’s Mayfair 100 mysteries.

In the dark days of World War I, an aristocrat’s suspicious suicide propels a one-of-a-kind crime-fighting team into a sordid world of blackmail, betrayal, and tragic secrets.

When the phone rings at the Mayfair 100 exchange, the news is rarely good, and this time is no exception. The Duchess of Penhere’s daughter, notorious society gossip queen Lady Adeline Treborne, has been found dead in her room in what appears to be a suicide–but her family suspects foul play.

The secret Mayfair team of amateur female detectives has been restlessly awaiting their next case, and this will prove one of their thorniest. When Dr. Caroline Allardyce performs an autopsy, she is able to conclusively prove that the woman was murdered. Lady Treborne had made many enemies through her vicious gossip column, so there’s no shortage of suspects.

Supported by a cadre of professional police officers, the Mayfair women launch their investigation, but there’s much more to this case than meets the eye. As they venture into a world that lays bare London high life at its lowest, the team soon begins to comprehend the danger at hand–and how this tangled web of treachery could ensnare anyone who gets too close.

My Thoughts

What an interesting read – WWI setting, women professionals turned detectives in a world that is still struggling to break free of Victorian era social conventions, and the beginnings of forensics in crime solving. Everything about it is intriguing. It is a historical police procedural that can be pretty dark and gritty at times.

Reading Next

Book Description

The year is 1900, responding to a desperate plea from an old friend, Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne, accompanied by Veronique the Labrador, travel from England to New Zealand to unravel a new and complex mystery.

For his daughter’s twenty first birthday, Millionaire philanthropist Octavius Damant orchestrates a weekend party aboard the Taniwha, a luxurious paddle steamer moored in the primordial and isolated landscape of Milford Sound.

Several high society guests are invited to their remote home for the celebrations; Sir Wesley Eade, society lawyer and his beautiful but icy mistress Lady Leonora Carlton-Cayce, Dona Carla Riva, a flamboyant Brazilian dancer, and Carolyn Nolloth, O.D’s estranged sister-in-law who has a great love of other people’s money.

But O.D is the subject of persecution; a series of anonymous letters accuse him of past crimes and threaten the life of his daughter unless he gives in to their creator’s poisonous demands.

Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne discover the odds stacked against them when an unforeseen murder is committed, and they find themselves trapped aboard the Taniwha with a killer who will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

As the body count rises, they must unravel the clues and piece together a devilish jigsaw that includes blackmail, extortion, desire, and the reappearance of the fabulous Larkspur Diamond, a gemstone with a past as murky and blood soaked as that of the relentless killer on board.

Set in the late Victorian era, with a touch of the odd, and a twist of the macabre, “Death in the Sound” continues the crime solving, paranormal escapades of Elliott Caine, Giselle Du’Lac, and Abernathy Thorne.

My Thoughts

I’m spanning about 100 years with this weeks mystery reads. What are the chances that I would read 3 historical mysteries in a row. Since my reading schedule is based in large part on scheduled review dates, doesn’t seem all that likely but here it is.

I’m reading this book for a blog tour and think it sounds like it could be interesting. I understand their are some paranormal aspects as well as mystery, so I’m looking forward to my first read by Rhen Garland.

What are you reading this week?