Kate Parker (1) (1952–)

I'm on a serious historical fiction/mystery binge. Apparently I have a temporary need to vicariously live in 19th century England; luckily I have quite a stack of books in my TBR pile that allow me to do just that.

The Royal Assassin is the third book in a series that would be better off called The Archivist Society mysteries, as almost nothing happens in the bookshop that Georgia Fenchurch owns. Going a step further, the focus of the series is truly Georgia's interaction with the Duke of Blackford, the Archivist Society mostly being a convenient framework allowing the two to spend time together as equals, investigating crimes and threats against country and queen.

For all that, it still works as a great cozy historical mystery. I enjoy Georgia and the Duke as well as most of the secondary characters (Sir whatshisname, the head of the Archivist Society, feels like a bit of a caricature), and I think the mysteries are interesting and entertaining. The series story arc about Count Farkas and the death of her parents, however, leaves me ambivalent.

The Royal Assassin puts the Russian aristocracy front and center with the murder of a princess' body guard and a threat on the life of the princess herself. The suspects are varied, and although I didn't guess who the culprit was, I wasn't surprised either; I'm not sure it could have realistically been anyone else. Still a rather dramatic ending for a cozy and one that held my attention.

I'm looking forward to the next book.… (mais)

Olivia Denis is in the morgue identifying her deceased husband. It just can’t be her Reggie lying there covered in blood! Sweet, sweet Reggie. Now, they are trying to tell her he committed suicide. Of course he didn’t! She knows he couldn’t have – wouldn’t have – just NO! Even though she takes all of their reasoning and turns it back on them to convince them it is murder, they won’t budge. Well, if they won’t investigate a murder, she will because Reggie definitely didn’t kill himself.

In the two years prior to the beginning of WWII, London was teeming with foreigners – those truly seeking refuge from the Nazi atrocities in Europe, and those seeking to garner information to pass back to Hitler to aid in his invasion of England. There were also Englanders whose sympathies lay with Hitler as well. There were spies everywhere – there was even a major leak coming from Reggie’s office and they had yet to discover his identity.

Was Reggie the mole who was funneling information to the Nazis? No, of course not. Olivia would never be convinced of that – even though she has just learned many, many, many shocking things about the Reggie she thought she knew. Does that mean that maybe Reggie discovered who the spy is? Could they have murdered Reggie to keep him quiet? Why has someone broken into Olivia’s apartment and ransacked it? What are they looking for?

When more deaths occur and Olivia is constantly being followed, she doesn’t know who to trust. Can the handsome Captain Adam Redmond, of Army Intelligence, be trusted? He certainly turned up at a time that would have allowed him to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Goodness help her – she’s learning to trust and lean on him – has she misjudged him?

You’ll love seeing Olivia come into her own during this time. She has a contentious relationship with her overbearing father and he is livid when she refuses to be a dutiful daughter and move back to his home after Reggie’s death. She compounds his anger when she actually goes to work in order to be able to afford to live in the flat she and Reggie had shared. There is more to her job than meets the eye, and she really begins to find her way – and her courage – as the investigation comes to completion.

I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook. Henrietta Meire, did a nice job with a smooth-flowing narration. While she did different voices for each character, they weren’t distinct enough that I would have recognized the character without having the author identify who was speaking. I think you’ll enjoy listening to the story should you choose the audiobook.

I can definitely recommend this book – and this series. I actually read the second book first because my library didn’t have this one available at the time. That means I can already tell you the second book is a good one as well – but I did like this one better.… (mais)

As a fan of this author’s Victorian Bookshop Mystery series, I wanted to try her Deadly series as well. I’m so glad I did as I enjoyed the time I spent with Olivia as well as her obnoxious wealthy cousins, her budding significant other – Adam, her employer at the newspaper, her photographer Jane, and, of course, her overbearing, disapproving father. My library didn’t have the first book in the series available, so I started with this one and it was no trouble at all to step right into the series and feel at home. I’ll definitely read the first book whenever my library has it available.

I ‘read’ the audiobook version and the narrator did an overall nice job. The pacing was nicely done, but, for me, the voice was too high-pitched and whiny when doing ‘posh’ aristocratic voices.

Widowed Olivia Dennis didn’t want to move back to her father’s house after her husband, Reggie, was murdered, so she got a job at The Daily Premier as a society reporter. Her father was incensed at the idea of his daughter actually working. Luckily, he doesn’t know she’s also done some more clandestine reporting for her boss. He does know, however, that she is the one who solved her husband’s murder, and that is a bone of contention between them as well.

Olivia has a love/hate relationship with her distant aristocratic cousins and she can’t believe she’s let Celia talk her into arriving early and helping Celia prepare for her wedding. With a rude, curmudgeonly patriarch, his equally rude adult children, and their adult children all living in the same household, there is little enjoyment in their company.

The old patriarch is found murdered on Celia’s wedding day, but the discovery is hushed up until the wedding is done. Since it is Celia and her groom’s third try for a wedding, her mother wanted to make sure it happened this time! When Celia announces she doesn’t trust the police to find the correct murderer and tasks Olivia with investigating the crime, things get pretty tense. Nobody wants Olivia sticking her nose in their business – but – none of them are convinced the police will get it right either.

At the same time, she is investigating the family murder, her boss assigns her a clandestine mission for him. That mission is truly dangerous since she must travel to an Austria that has just been annexed by Germany. Nazi’s have taken over and the drums of war can be heard in the distance. Can Olivia and Jane safely complete their mission and make it safely out of Austria? Oh! My!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to continuing with the series.… (mais)