I love the way two people, perfectly content to be alone, stumble upon each other on their way to the unpleasant task of an arranged marriage. Without the bias of the situation, and without knowing they are the person they are dreading meeting, they discover they like each other. Deeper scars hold them back, but even their own personal demons aren’t strong enough to keep them apart.

a worthy gothic tale

At times a tad far fetched and “one step too far,” overall I enjoyed the story. The descriptions were vivid and entertaining. Some of the prose was distancing, which kept me from fully enjoying the story, but if gothic is your thing (it is mine), it’s worth the read.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, and the part I was looking forward to wasn’t revealed until almost the end. It’s a story about a very plucky Englishwoman who was raised as an independent woman by her father in a patriarchal society, so when he dies, she’s left floundering. Homeless and rejected by society, she accepts a job from a stranger visiting England from America’s wild west. Is he a notorious outlaw? Or a champion of the underdog? She stands to collect the reward for his capture if he’s the outlaw, something that would go a long way to regaining her independence. A first in series, it lays the foundation for future books.

Ghosts, time travel, secret passages…

I almost put this book down after the first chapter, but then it carried me along. Did she imagine traveling back in time? Did her mind snap when she saw her uncle die? Her mother convinced her it had, and now, 23 years later, Bronwyn returns to “the scene of the crime,” only to discover there truly is a crime- or three. And the young boy she used to time travel to visit, through the stitch in time? He’s 23 years older now, too, and he hasn’t forgotten her. But is he a killer? The ghosts need her to name the killer so they can move on, but she only has one chance to get it right. Well done.

great series starter

If you like a good ghost story, haunted houses and ghosts in the graveyard, this is the book for you.

In another of her Mapleton Mysteries, where "nothing happens... until it does," readers get a seat at the table as the Mapleton police department is confronted with a murder and multiple assaults. Are they related? Separate? To make matters worse, the crimes encompass multiple jurisdictions, which means the officers investigating have to rely on other departments for assistance. Are the other departments as invested in the outcome as the Mapleton folks are? Delegating is always difficult when you want to do the job yourself, but in this book, the cogs work together like a well-oiled machine and in the end, our heroes are able to save the day once more. A nice piece of police work.