Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Sometimes the library really comes through. They got me this March release by Maisie Dobbs author Jacqueline Winspear much faster than I had any reason to expect!     Title: The White Lady Author: Jacqueline Winspear Publication Info: Harper Collins, 2023. 321 pages (hardback or Kindle). Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: The White Lady introduces yet another extraordinary heroine from Jacqueline Winspear, creator of the best-selling Maisie Dobbs series. This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White—veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity—when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind. A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government. The p...

I was fortunate to be given an advance review copy of this collection via Netgalley--many thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this! Title: The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions Author: Kerry Greenwood Publisher: coming March 30 from Allen and Unwin. 272 pages (I read an unpaginated e-ARC) Source: Netgalley ARC Publisher's Blurb: The Honourable Phryne Fisher - she of the Lulu bob, Cupid's Bow lips, diamante garters and pearl-handled pistol - is the 1920s' most elegant and irrepressible sleuth. Miss Phryne Fisher is up to her stunning green eyes in intriguing crime in each of these entertaining, fun and compulsively readable stories. With the ever-loyal Dot, the ingenious Mr Butler and all of Phryne's friends and household, the action is as fast as Phryne's wit and logic.     My Review: I have long been a fan of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher, so I was excited to get the opportunity to read this collection, though I was also a little wo...

Title: Author: Publication Info: Source:   Publisher's Blurb (per Amazon): Georgie and Darcy are finally on their honeymoon in Kenya's Happy Valley, but murder crashes the party in this all-new installment in the New York Times bestselling series. I was so excited when Darcy announced out of the blue that we were flying to Kenya for our extended honeymoon. Now that we are here, I suspect he has actually been sent to fulfill another secret mission. I am trying very hard not to pick a fight about it, because after all, we are in paradise! Darcy finally confides that there have been robberies in London and Paris. It seems the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Since we are staying in the Happy Valley—the center of upper-class English life—we are well positioned to hunt for clues and ferret out possible suspects.   Now that I am a sophisticated married woman, I am doing my best to sound like one. But crikey! These aristocrats are a thor...

  Title: All We Buried Author: Elena Taylor Publication Info: Crooked Lane Books, 2020. 304 pages Source: ARC via NetGalley Publisher's Blurb: Deep in the woods surrounding the Cascade mountain range, a canvas-wrapped body floats in a lake, right in Elizabeth "Bet" Rivers's jurisdiction. Bet has been sitting as interim sheriff of Collier after her father's--the previous sheriff's--death six months ago. Everyone knows everyone in a town like Collier. She has made it her duty to protect the people she's come to see as family. And she intends to hold her title in the upcoming election, but she's never worked a murder investigation on her own before and her opponent and deputy, Dale Kovac, isn't going down without a fight. Upon unwrapping the corpse, Bet discovers the woman is from out of town. Without an identification, the case grows that much more puzzling. Determined to prove herself worthy, however, Bet must confront the warped history...

Middle Grade Monday and Mystery Monday merge at last, with this 3rd installment in the fantastic Wells and Wong series!   I don't think this was the cover that came with the kindle book, but I like this one better :) Title: First Class Murder (Wells and Wong/Murder Most Unladylike #3) Author: Robin Stevens Publication Info: RHCP Digital, 2015 (Kindle); Hardback 2015 by Corgi Children's, 336 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher’s Blurb: Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday through Europe on the world-famous Orient Express. From the moment the girls step aboard, it's clear that each of their fellow first-class passengers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: rumour has it that there is a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, there is a bloodcurdling scream from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered, her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer is nowhere to be seen - almost as if the...

Title: Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest (Shirley Link #3) Author: Ben Zackheim Publisher: Independent. 2013, 120 pages Source:  Purchase Publisher's Summary: Shirley Link loves pirates. Well, she loves the idea of them. She wouldn't like them if they were running up the street stealing bikes. But digging for treasure and swashbuckling adventure are on the top of her to-do list. So when a clue pops up that there's a hidden pirate treasure under her hometown, Shirley gets to work. In Shirley Link & The Treasure Chest, the third volume in the critically-acclaimed Middle-Grade Mystery series, our heroine takes on her biggest challenge yet. But this time the stakes are higher than ever. If she fails to find the treasure, or if it ends up being a hoax, then Shirley's elderly neighbor, Mrs. Smiley, will lose her home to the bank.   
 My Review:   Before I begin, a disclaimer: I have an on-line acquaintance with author Ben Zackheim, and have shared space in ...

  Flashback Friday is a monthly meme that takes place on the last Friday of the month . The idea is to give a little more love to a post you’ve published on your blog before.  Maybe you just love it, maybe it’s appropriate for now, or maybe it just didn’t get the attention it deserved when you first published it. Thanks to Michael d’Agostino, who started it all, there is a solution – join Flashback Friday! Just join in whenever you like, repost one of your own blog posts , including any copyright notices on text or media, on the last Friday of the month. Use the Flashback Friday logo above, as designed by Michael d’Agostino. Link it back to host Jemima Pett (there's a linky list!) and add a link to your post in the comments on Jemima's post (or mine, or any other participant's). Since Friday is my flash fiction day, I've been sharing stories from the archives. This one dates back to 2013, and since it is a mystery featuring my heroine, JJ MacGregor of Pismawallops...

We were back this week to one of my favorite flash fiction challenges, over there in Wendig land: the subgenre mash-up. After a few tries (to avoid some genres I don't deal in), the magic dice gave me "comic fantasy" and "occult detective." That seemed to go nicely with a story I had already begun, based on some half-sleeping idea that came to me early one morning. 1000 words exactly. 333 “Really, 333, you must try harder.” Disturbed from his reading, the demon pushed his glasses up and folded the morning edition of The Infernal Times into a better position for reading. “I must?” “You aren’t half the demon your father was, may he rest in pieces.” 333 raised a chiseled eyebrow. “No one is half the demon Dear Old Dad was.” “But we had such hopes of you! That’s why they gave you that number!”
 “To remind me every day that I’m at best half of what old 666 was?” The Demonic Division Chief ground his teeth. He did that a lot, especially around 333. That was why he had...

Title: A Dangerous Talent Author: Charlotte and Aaron Elkins Publisher: Thomas & Mercer, 2012. 270 pages Source: I purchased this book. Publisher's Summary: Alix London has a promising career as an art consultant, a sumptuous condo in Seattle’s toniest neighborhood, a gorgeous figure, and a presence that exudes Ivy League breeding and old money. She has it all…or does she? Only Alix knows that the image she presents to the world is a carefully constructed mirage that veils an embarrassing truth. A brilliant, once-promising art student, the daughter of a prominent New York art conservator, her world was left in ruins when her father went to prison for art forgery. Now a Harvard dropout with an emptied bank account, she is languishing in a career that has produced little more than a lucky house-sitting gig. But all of that changes when Alix meets Christine Lemay, a novice art collector with money to burn and a hot tip on a recently discovered painting by American mast...

  Title: Burn Author: Nevada Barr Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2010. 378 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary: Anna Pigeon, a Ranger with the National Park Service, is newly married but on administrative leave from her job as she recovers from the traumas of the past couple of months. While the physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones are still healing. With her new husband back at work, Anna decides to go and stay with an old friend from the Park Service, Geneva, who works as a singer at the New Orleans Jazz NHP. She isn't in town long before she crosses paths with a tenant of Geneva's, a creepy guy named Jordan. She discovers what seems to be an attempt to place a curse on her--a gruesomely killed pigeon marked with runic symbols; and begins to slowly find traces of very dark doings in the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans. Tied up in all of this is Jordan, who is not at all what he appears to be; a fugitive mother accused of killing her husband and ...

  Title: In Farleigh Field Author: Rhys Bowen Publisher: Lake Union Publishing, 2017. 378 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary: World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the British code-breaking facility. As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may include another member of Pamela’s family, he discovers that some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England falls? Inspired by the events and people of World War ...

Title: Withering-by-Sea Author: Judith Rossell Publisher: ABC Books, 2014. US edition by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016. 261 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: High on a cliff above the gloomy coastal town of Withering-by-Sea stands the Hotel Majestic. Inside the walls of the damp, dull hotel, eleven-year-old orphan Stella Montgomery leads a miserable life with her three dreadful Aunts. But one night, Stella sees something she shouldn't have... Something that will set in motion and adventure more terrifying and more wonderful than she could ever have hoped for...   My Review: I believe I picked up this one on a recommendation from the Goodreads Great Middle Grade Reads group. I'm glad I did. The book is a sort of semi-humorous gothic mystery for kids. Which might not sound super appealing, but the book is both funny and scary (mostly in the "oh no! She's in trouble again" way), and certainly grabbed me and pulled me right along. Stella i...

Title: Journey to Munich Author: Jacqueline Winspear Publisher: Harper Collins, 2016. 285 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Summary: It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich. The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help. Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unex...

Title: The Falcon's Malteser: A Diamond Brothers Mystery Author: Anthony Horowitz Publisher: Philomel Books, 1986 Source: Library Publisher's Summary: When the vertically-challenged Johnny Naples entrusts Tim Diamond with a package worth over three million pounds, he’s making a big mistake. Tim Diamond is the worst detective in the world. Next day, Johnny’s dead, Tim feels the heat, and his smart younger brother, Nick, gets the package—and every crook in town on his back! My Review: This is a pretty good mystery/thriller, with one foot in comedy and one foot in mayhem. The body count is high, making it definitely YA, not children's, and if it weren't for the somewhat cartoonish nature of the whole thing it would have been too violent for my taste. It might be, anyway. What's awkward is that the writing level feels more like it's for 10- or 11-year-olds. Maybe today's kids are used to corpses from the video games? Nick Diamond is a pretty sharp kid, u...

  Title: The Book of Kings (Mister Max #3) Author: Cynthia Voigt; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno Publisher:  Knopf Books for Young Readers; 2015. 352 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb:  Ever since Max’s parents were spirited away on a mysterious ship, he has longed to find them. He’s solved case after case for other people in his business as “solutioneer.” And he’s puzzled out the coded messages sent by his father. He doesn’t know exactly what’s happened, but he knows his parents are in danger—and it’s up to Max to save them. Max and his friends (and a few old foes) don disguises and set sail on a rescue mission. It will take all of Max’s cleverness and daring to outmaneuver the villains that lie in wait: power-hungry aristocrats, snake-handling assassins, and bombardier pastry chefs. And behind the scenes, a master solutioneer is pulling all the strings.... Has Max finally met his match? My Review: As you can see, I kept to my word and not only read Book ...

Title: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1) Author: Ally Carter; narrated by Eileen Stevens Publisher: Scholastic Audio, 2015.  (Original Scholastic Press, 2015, 310 pages) Publisher's Summary: Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:    1. She is not crazy.      2. Her mother was murdered.      3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay. As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her -- so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands. Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace -- no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she does...

  Title: The Book of Lost Things (Mister Max, Book I) Author: Cynthia Voigt; read by Paul Boehmer Publisher: Listening Library, 2013. Original Alfred A. Knopf, 2013, 374 pages. Source : Library (digital resources) Publisher's Summary:    Max Starling's theatrical father likes to say that at twelve a boy is independent. He also likes to boast (about his acting skills, his wife's acting skills, a fortune only his family knows is metaphorical), but more than anything he likes to have adventures. Max Starling's equally theatrical mother is not a boaster but she enjoys a good adventure as much as her husband. When these two disappear, what can sort-of-theatrical Max and his not-at-all theatrical grandmother do? They have to wait to find out something, anything, and to worry, and, in Max's case, to figure out how to earn a living at the same time as he maintains his independence. This is the first of three books, all featuring the mysterious Mister Max. My Rev...