This was very good and I want to read more of the series!

Sadly, not worth reading. I can't tell if there's anything to be gained in the full reading of this book, because supernatural kidnappers and torturers just aren't worth reading about. And the style was ponderous.

The book is about a woman who goes on a cruise after a bad breakup. It is filled with erotic sex scenes, but all in the first person, and the descriptions are ok.

The reason I am only giving this book 2 stars is that the woman is not only shallow, she is inconsiderate and selfish in bed as well as out. She ditches her BFF from the start of the cruise for a man she met in the first hour of the cruise. She met him by coming on to him physically not knowing him from Adam - but twice in the book she disses men who do the same to her. She only picked him up to get rid of the first man who hit on her (which makes him, in her words, a douche) because she seems to be powerless to get rid of him by telling him she isn't interested.

The man and she agree no names and no relationship after this week of cruising - but at one point, she is flirting with other people to make him jealous. When he responds in kind she storms out and he (already whipped by the great sex, apparently) apologizes for his behavior (when she started it!)

She picks up a couple to swing with, without consulting her partner, and with no intention of letting the other man touch her. (she says, "too bad for her husband")

And then she decides she is in love with the man (and in the story, he also says he is in love with her)! Aargh. This woman needs therapy.

A fun read! Very steampunk.

I love all the stories about Mureth the very best. This is the second in the series.

I'm going to give this one 5 stars, although I figured it out early in in the book.

There is just as much funny stuff as usual, but without some of the over the top craziness of the previous books. Also, I think that Meg has grown as a person and is developing some boundaries.

In addition, Meg is no helpless flower, and I've always loved the fact that she is a blacksmith. She can fight back when she needs to, as well as use her brains.

The books will make the most sense if you read them in order.

While one cannot agree with Ms.Christie about the psychology of women, the book itself was interesting and kept my attention from start to finish. It was read well by Ms. E. Fox.

These books are worth getting from the library, but they aren't ones you would want to re-read. The author uses the word "said" too many times, and the reader pronounces it with a thunk at the end. It's distracting.

The plots aren't hard to figure out, and the characters behave ....in a very silly fashion. There really isn't any reason for the librarian to be as nosy as she is, either. Also - she needs to get her head on straight about how to communicate and have relationships.

There is something endearing about the characters, though, and one wants to hear about them again. I don't actually know why.

This may be my very favorite D.E. Stevenson book of all. But to truly appreciate it you have to at least read Music in the Hills first...

I got annoyed at the heroines at times - they were not acting intelligently. And the writer seems to use the word "said" too many times. But I have read one of the books further along in the series and wanted to circle back and get the beginnings...

New Poirot books!

Someone lit a fire under this author. The last few books in this series have been amazingly good.

The pacing was a bit slow, but I did like the book. I figured out "who done it" about 2/3rds of the way through. There is a wealth of description that can be both intriguing and wearying, depending on my mood.

I definitely want to see more about these characters.

These books are worth getting from the library, but they aren't ones you would want to re-read. The author uses the word "said" too many times, and the reader pronounces it with a thunk at the end. It's distracting.

The plots aren't hard to figure out, and the characters behave ....in a very silly fashion. There really isn't any reason for the librarian to be as nosy as she is, either. Also - she needs to get her head on straight about how to communicate and have relationships.

There is something endearing about the characters, though, and one wants to hear about them again. I don't actually know why.

The very first book in the Jane Lawless series, this book is set in the 80s (and written then also, I think) and might seem odd to those of us used to the modern tech - internet and cell phones, just to mention a few things that are not in the book... The book does a good job of introducing us to what I am hoping will be main characters that flow through the series. The characters are human and complex; the murderer was not obvious. Many red herrings were dragged across the path on the way to the solution.

The Audio version definitely has some volume control issues - the sound goes up and down. The reader did a decent job, though, and it was not distracting. The whisper sync worked as it was supposed to.

This was a well-written book of its age and type (it was written in the 1920s), with just a few places where one grinds one's teeth at the ideas about female psychology back in the dark ages. (The heroine actually tells someone that women in love enjoy doing things they dislike if the man they love enjoys the thing in question!) I give it 4 stars for suspense and enough red herrings to make it very interesting. It does have the usual love at first sight nonsense, but there is usually a couple in her books who bond over the trials and tribulations...

Classic old mystery. Very much a type. The audio version read very well, different British voices done cleverly. Very enjoyable.

I loved this book! I wish I still had a copy.

Each book is better than the last in this series, and should be read in order. I'm doing the audible versions, and they are FABULOUS. Magical Mystery books with great descriptions, interesting plots, and sudden twists that leave you happy and wanting to hear more.

This was the best one yet in the series.

Now this one is more like it! It features Mr. Alleyn from the beginning. It's still set in NZ and features both a murder and his war work of dealing with the Nazis, and seems most appropriate to read during our current political climate. The people are well drawn and complex, and the murderer hard to figure out. There's a good bit of psychology in it, and it is well thought out.

The hardest thing about listening to this one is that it features someone with a head wound, and I'm home listening to books as I recover from a concussion!

I had good memories of this book, and was looking forward to coming to it in the series re-read. Sadly, I found that the prejudices of the time spoiled much of this book for me. The casually racism and misogyny I expected. However, there was a scene where some weird pseudo "Pagan" rites were described. Although I could tell that the character who described them was outraged, I was almost amused to note that the description, for the most part, could be applied to a High Church Episcopal service with equal accuracy. It was very odd. I also was saddened by the bias and inaccuracy of the descriptions of marijuana, and also the lack of strength that Troy has in this volume. It's as though Ms. Marsh feels that through marriage and children, Troy is now weakened.

This is a great book - well written and engaging.

Exquisite as an Audible re-read. The reader is amazingly good with voices and some singing too.

A very deep and emotional read. These books are amazing.

This book is full of disagreeable people and hardly features Mr. Alleyn at all. It's extremely dated and hardly worthy of Ms. Marsh. It's got a dreadful attitude to the native New Zealand population, a hearty disrespect for the transplanted Britishers who one supposes are the protagonists, and the murder victim is a disgusting lecherous creep. Even the romance doesn't quite come off. The only saving grace is that I borrowed the audiobook from the library and so don't have to own it.

I continued to listen to the end because I am reading all of the Alleyn books in order, but I have to say you could totally skip this one. It doesn't further Roderick or Troy's story at all, except to tell one that Roderick is in NZ as part of his foreign office war work.

I highly recommend the audio book version. I own the Kindle version too, for WhisperSync and those times when my headset doesn't cut it, but the reader does a great job. It's a good story.

re-read an old favorite.

The classic! Just as good as remembered. Written in the 1930s. House party, murder game, real murder.... might seem trite if you don't realize what a new idea it was when she wrote it. Her descriptions and character building are also tremendous as well. This is the first of the Alleyn of Scotland Yard books - she went on to write about 30 of them.

A marvelous book! We get Troy and Roderick both, which I do love. And both points of view, which I find fun. The puzzle is complex, and I wasn't sure till the very end who was the culprit, which is the very best.

It's important to remember, if you haven't the context, that Alleyn was sent to New Zealand for his war work, and Troy was in England doing hers, so they were apart 3 years. And remember, you couldn't really phone NZ from UK at that point - calling from one part of the country to another required a live operator and a waiting period for an open line. So for 3 years, they had only letters. And he didn't just fly home - he takes a ship, and she doesn't know for weeks when he will arrive. They manage to get her 3 days notice when the ship is close. So different from our lives today!

It's well worth a read - and if you aren't reading the whole series, you might want to read Artists in Crime first, the 6th in the series, which is the book where Roddy and Troy first meet.

I wish more of these books were available on Audible. The reader is good, and I have gotten over my initial disappointment that she wasn't told to use a Boston accent. (There are too many rrrr's in her speech!) I blame the director.

I'd forgotten how good these little mysteries are. It's so nice that they are finally available on Kindle, too!

I recommend that you read them in order, of course....