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Frost at Christmas by R.D. Wingfield

Book 1 in the Frost series Review by  Elleanore Vance Welcome back my Lovely Readers!  I want to open this review by saying that this book depicts illegal police action, mention of child pornography, a member of the clergy who abuses children in his congregation, animal cruelty, and the repeated shaming of a sex worker. This book may not be for you Eight year old Tracy Uphill was last seen walking home from Sunday school alone. When she fails to arrive home, Mrs. Uphill goes in search of her daughter. This is the first time Tracy has attempted the walk home on her own, Mrs Uphill always, Always ALWAYS walks her home. You see, Mrs. Uphill just so happens to be the neighborhood prostitute. That is the neighborhood secret that isn't really a secret. Everyone seems to know how Mrs. Uphill pays her bills, and her regular Sunday morning client just happened to run later than usual on this particular Sunday. The call reporting Tracy as a missing person mobilizes the Denton Police...
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The Burglary by Betty Medsgar

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome  back, my Lovely Readers! The year was 1971; the location was a neighborhood of Philadelphia known as Germantown. Richard Nixon is President of the United States, the Vietnam conflict rages in Asia as protestors attack draft board offices, and J. Edgar Hoover was the untouchable head of the FBI. For eight (nine) people, and really the whole nation, the world as they know it is about to change. All it took is a lot of planning, and a bit of daring do. This small group of individuals would do the impossible: Burgle the FBI. 'Why would they risk the prison sentance?,'you may be asking. Because they believed Hoover was using his agents to quell dissent. Rumors around the counter culture were that men who did not fit in (short hair and wing-tipped shoes) were showing up to protests, attempting to  turn peaceful events into violent encounters. As good Ole J. Edgar wasn't known for sharing the Bureau's secrets, the only way the Media 8 (9) w...
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Unbuttoning America by Ardis Cameron

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome back, My Lovely Readers! Im sorry to say that thiis book was not what I wanted it to be. I guess I wanted more about Grace,  or even the Sheep Pen Murder. What I got is more of an analysis of the ripples Peyton Place created. This month we're delving into Unbuttoning America, and looking at the cultural impact of Peyton Place. Ardis Cameron shows us how Peyton Place helped us in our understanding of human sexuality as a whole. We see  the reactions of libraries and book stores to the book, those who banned the title,and those who couldn't keep copies on the shelves. We spend more time than I would have preferred on the Kinsey Report. According to the subtitle, this was supposed to be about Peyton Place, but I feel it was more a dissertation about censorship and human sexuality, using Peyton Place as a bow to tie it all together. Unbuttoning America reads like a Master's thesis  published for public consumption: informative in the extrem...
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Sacred by Dennis LeHane

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome Back, Lovely Reader! This month we're going dark and gritty and into Boston with Kezie and Genarro in Sacred, by Dennis LeHane. Patrick and Angie have dramatically changed since we last saw them. Understandably. They let their Belfry grow cold, covered in dust and cobwebs. Neither of them seem to have it in them anymore to solve  the mysteries that used to drive their world. And then they get kidnapped. As one might guess, this is a bad omen for our Dynamic Duo. The adventure that follows is a rollercoaster of events. Bubba bails them out one last time before surrendering himself for a year long vacation, courtesy of the State of Massachusetts.(Patrick says they don't like it when you carry unregistered firearms there.) And the ending is one I never saw coming. This book gets Patrick and Angie back in the saddle after the tragedy of 'Darkness'. The themes we explore are about healing and being true to one's self. Refreshing in so ...
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The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Review by Elleanore Vance Welcome back, my Lovely Readers! This month we're looking at a classic from the Queen of Crime: Dame Agatha Christie. That essential intelligence thriller: The Secret Adversary. In the aftermath of the First World War and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, we find Tommy Beresford, and his childhood friend Prudence  "Tuppence" Cowley looking for work. Both have done their service for King and Country, but now, the city offers no employment, and neither foes anywhere else. Penniless and desperate, having tried all of the legal ways to get ahead, the pair decide to try some less legal, morally grey ways. So begins the Young Adventurers Limited. One of the world's first spy novels, this is my favorite set of Christie characters. The intrepid Young Adventurers end up on the trail of a missing woman who had some very important papers on her when she disappeared. A case of mistaken identity opens new avenues of investigation, but will they be able...
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Magna Carta by Dan Jones

Review by Elleanore Vance Thanks to Disney's "Robin Hood" animated feature, I grew up believing John I was the "phony king of England". In his work "Magna Carta", historian Dan Jones corrects that misconception. We begin with a very detailed snapshot of the Plantagenet siblings known as The Devil's Brood. These were the sons born to Eleanor of Aquitaine and her second husband Henry II: Henry the Young King, Richard I, Geoffrey and John.  Henry would have become the Third, but predeceased their father; a heart-breaking blow. Geoffrey also predeceased their father, getting trampled at a joust (though that may have been a fiction to conceal a homosexual relationship he may have had with Phillip II of France) Richard spoke no English and spent much of his reign Crusading in the Holy Land. What time he was not Crusading or being held hostage, was in France.  John, the youngest, known as "Lackland", is the one we're concerned with. See, ...
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Flowers for the sea By Zin E Rocklyn

Review by Ellenanore Vance I need to open this review by saying that Zin and I are friends. I purchased this book with my own money, and I have NOT been asked to review, nor compensared for this review by them. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way... The Horror community was shaken by the 2021 release of "Flowers for the Sea". Squeamish readers were sickened and others were offended by the contents. I personally feel that its beauty was misunderstood. We follow Iraxi, a passenger aboard a ship holding the survivors of her village. She is the only survivor of the fire that exterminated her family, and she is 300 days pregnant.  Our cast also contains  Amat, the would-be prince, and Ket, daughter of the last midwife. As you may have guessed, Iraxi's pregnancy is not the usual kind. It is absolutely masterful the way we reveal new information with each turn of the page: delicate and full of senses. Smells are pungent,  tastes linger at the back of the mouth, ...
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