Thursday, November 7, 2019

Book Review and Giveaway - Tell Me No Lies: A Lady Dunbridge Novel by Shelley Noble

Book Synopsis
Miss Fisher meets Downton Abbey in Tell Me No Lies, part of the critically acclaimed Lady Dunbridge Mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble. 

Rise and shine, Countess, you’re about to have a visitor. 

Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement—and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives, begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome young business tycoon. 

His death could send another financial panic through Wall Street and beyond. 

With the elegant Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the opulent mansions of Long Island’s Gold Coast as the backdrop, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

My Review
Lady Phil Dundridge is a British countess living in New York during the Gilded Age. She is clever, worldly - and a gifted amateur detective. When a young society man is killed and stuffed down a laundry chute, Phil becomes involved in solving the mystery.

I wanted to read this book from the description that compared it to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Downton Abbey. It certainly did not disappoint!  I absolutely loved the beautiful glimpse of Gilded Age New York. The period details were perfection, down to the smallest nuances of language.

Tell Me No Lies is the second book in the Lady Dundridge mystery series. I have not (yet) read the first book, but had no problem enjoying this book as a standalone read.

Phil is a fascinating character - very witty and bright, able to work well with society friends as well as the police detective working on the case.  She is assisted by her lady's maid and butler, and in their spare time they even study books on detection!

This was a complex, sophisticated mystery with a large cast of characters. I would find a cast of characters page helpful in keeping track of family/society relationships.  The mystery was well written and kept me guessing until the resolution.

There is an intriguing sub-plot about Lady Phil's relationship with Mr. X - a mystery man who appears and disappears, always in disguise, with mystery clues and romance. Even Phil does not know his true identity.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tell Me No Lies and would recommend it highly for fans of historical mysteries.  I look forward to continuing the series and going back to read the first book as well.


Author Bio
Shelley Noble is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary women’s fiction. (Beach Colors, Whisper Beach, Lighthouse Beach.) And the author of the Lady Dunbridge Gilded Age  Manhattan mysteries. Tell Me No Lies is the latest of the series.

She has written eighteen amateur sleuth and historical mystery novels and novellas as Shelley Freydont. (The Sudoku Murders,  Celebration Bay mysteries, The Gilded Age Newport mysteries.

A former professional dancer and choreographer, Shelley lives at the Jersey shore where she loves to discover new beaches and indulge her passion for lighthouses, vintage carousels, and the past.

Author Links
Website https://www.shelleynoble.com
FB https://www.facebook.com/ShelleyNobleAuthor
Twitter https://twitter.com/ShelleyNoble3
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shelleynobleauthor/
Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5560617.Shelley_Noble

Purchase Links – AmazonB&NKobo

Giveaway
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Book Spotlight and Giveaway - Three Widows and a Corpse (A Food Blogger Mystery) by Debra Sennefelder

Book Synopsis
Food blogger Hope Early finds one item not on her scavenger hunt list—a dead husband . . . 

Between developing her food blog, Hope at Home, and choosing low-cal recipes for a feature in Cooking Now! magazine, Hope has a full plate. Still, she’s never too busy to compete in a Jefferson, Connecticut, tradition—the town’s annual scavenger hunt. 

But as she races with her team to check off the next item, Hope discovers a grisly surprise—the body of shady real estate developer Lionel Whitcomb, shot in a parking lot. His wife Elaine, who’s also in the hunt, gasps and nearly faints. But two other women on the scene cry out that their husband is dead. 

 It turns out this louse of a spouse was more than a little lax in legally divorcing his former wives. Did one of them put a bullet in the bigamist? Number one suspect and number three wife Elaine begs Hope to investigate. Now Hope is on a new kind of hunt—for a cold-hearted killer and triple widow-maker . . . 

Includes Recipes from Hope’s Kitchen!

Author Bio
Debra Sennefelder, the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series, is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person

Born and raised in New York City, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in pre-hospital care, retail and publishing. Her writing companions are her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy. 

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Romance Writers of America.

Author Links:
Website – Facebook – Goodreads 

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound

Giveaway
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