Book review: Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne

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Absolution by Murder (Sister Fidelma, #1)

Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Historical mysteries are a tricky balancing act. On one hand, the author should paint a realistic portrait of the period and needs to include the necessary details to describe the setting in which the mystery takes place. On the other hand, the author should also write a compelling and interesting mystery. Often, historical mysteries fall into either the category of a history book with a run-of-the-mill mystery or the category of an interesting mystery with insufficient or inaccurate historical detail.
This book falls into the former category. The author is clearly well-informed about the period (664 AD during a split between the Roman and Celtic churches) and writes about the shifting political alliances and complex religious issues with confidence and authority. But when I am able to guess who the murderer was within 10 pages of the murder, I know the mystery is not compelling. If you want to learn more about this relatively unknown period, the Sister Fidelma mysteries seem like a good way to absorb the information painlessly and easily. And I really like that the main character is a woman. But there are better historical mystery novelists out there–ones who can write knowledgeably about the period and produce a compelling mystery at the same time.



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Hawaii: July 2019 version

By now, there isn’t much more that I can say about this little bit of paradise than I haven’t already said.

sunrise in o’ahu

So let me just mention the highlights of this trip, which include the following:

  • Continuing our 4th of July tradition of spending it with Dianne, John, Benjamin and Isabelle (this time in Honolulu)
Dinner at Chef Mavro
  • Getting to spend the 4th of July holiday with our former exchange student, Yinan
deep sea fishing
  • Unsuccessfully going deep sea fishing (not a nibble!) and having the entire group overdosing on Bonine, much to the dismay of the non-deep sea fishing group who discovered the Bonine-overdosed group was useless for the rest of the day
  • Parasailing, which was a really fun experience (it is eerily quiet 400 feet up in the air and, of course, incomparably beautiful)
getting ready to parasail
  • Meals at our favorite Honolulu restaurants—Chef Mavro and The Pig & the Lady (let the record reflect that I am the “lady”)

We look forward to our next trip to paradise!

sunset in o’ahu

Book review: Lady in Waiting by Marie Tremayne

Lady in Waiting (Reluctant Brides, #1)

Lady in Waiting by Marie Tremayne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A rather unusual premise: the heroine is about to be forced into an unwanted marriage with a despicable man and, to avoid the wedding, she runs off to become a housemaid in a reclusive earl’s household in the country. Naturally, the “housemaid” and the earl fall in love.
I realize that “grounded in reality” is not a phrase a reader ever uses with respect to a Regency romance, but I found it difficult to believe that a young woman from an aristocratic household would convincingly pass off as a housemaid, even an inexperienced one. I also found it difficult to believe that an earl would ever think about marrying one of his housemaids, no matter how persuasively the author wrote the love story.
That being said, the characters are charming and likable, the plot was no less a flight of fantasy than most romances, and I give the author points for the premise. It was a fun read. I rate the book 3.5 stars.



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