Archive | February, 2023

Advice for Marvelous Mysteries: Of Manners & Murders, Recipes for Love & Murder, and Flight Risk

8 Feb

Of Manners and Murders
by Anastasia Hastings
Of Manners and Murders is the first in Anastasia Hastings’s new Dear Miss Hermione series set in 1885. Hastings is just one of the pen-names for Connie Laux who has published 65 novels over the years, most recently in the mystery genre! Mystery books series under her other pen names include Kylie Logan (Ethnic Eats series), Lucy Ness (Haunted Mansion series), Mimi Granger (Love is Murder Series) and Casey Daniels (Pepper Martin series). Bookish, Violet Manville is tasked with her Aunt Adelia’s infamous “Miss Hermione” Advice column after her aunt leaves London with her latest love for the continent. Going through the latest batch of letters, Violet discovers one from a mysterious Ivy who is afraid for her life. When Violet journeys to advise Ivy in person, she comes across not a distraught young wife, but Ivy’s funeral. The book is primarily told from Violet’s perspective, who has an adventurous spirit having spent some of her youth abroad in Africa and India. A few chapters give us the perspective of her younger and more naïve half-sister, Sephora, who also becomes caught up in the mystery. I found the story enjoyable and would recommend it to fans of period mysteries, especially for those who are fascinated by the Victorian era like I am. I look forward to reading more of the series in the future.

Recipes for Love & Murder
Recipes for Love & Murder is a Dramedy Mystery Series available to our patrons streaming on Hoopla based on the Tannie Maria Mystery series by Sally Andrew (Tannie is the Afrikaans word for Auntie). When Maria is told by her boss at a local South African paper that her recipe column is being cancelled in order to make room for a new romance and life advice column, she volunteers to write the advice column herself (while still managing to slip in some delicious sounding recipes). Characters are captured stating what is enclosed in their letters and each episode features a different conundrum Tannie Maria must aid. In the first episode one of her letters is from a woman with an abusive husband and an amorous friend, who turns up murdered (this is based on the first book in the series with the same name); Maria’s quest to find out who committed the murder along with her fellow reporter, Jessica, takes place over the first season. Jessica’s complex relationship with her family is also woven into the dramatic mix. Maria has her own secret past back in Scotland that she is hiding from. The two are a likeable pair. Fans of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana looking for more African set cozies will be charmed. Be prepared though each episode ends on a cliffhanger leading in to the next so you will be tempted to binge watch.

Flight Risk
by Cherie Priest
Flight Risk is the second in Cherie Priest’s Booking Agent Mystery series. I had previously reviewed the first book in the series Grave Reservations. This book continues to focus on the psychic travel agent, Leda Foley, who sometimes also provides psychic detective services to people in need or in aid of the local police force along with Grady Merritt, a widowed detective. Flight Risk, however, does not require reading the previous installment to enjoy and although some events are passingly referred to it shouldn’t spoil it for anyone reading them out of order. In this novel, a missing person case for a woman, who may have stolen funds from her employer, that Leda is helping with intersects with a case of a murdered man, which Grady’s dog discovered while he and his daughter were nearby on vacation. Leda’s “psychic psongstress” karaoke where she sings meaningful songs based on objects people bring in to the bar where her best-friend works were a favorite of mine from the last books and continue in the current book, it is a clever spin on the usual psychic doling out of advice. I would love to see this include in a TV series adaptation, if it were to happen one day. Also check out Priest’s great Cheshire Red Reports series.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: , , , , , ,

Valentine’s Day Manhwa Pick: Villains Are Destined to Die Vol. 1

1 Feb

Isekai manga and light novels have exploded within the last year or so. In almost every genre now, you can find stories where the protagonist is transported to another world through various means and circumstances. High among the isekai boom has been within the shojo category (comics geared towards a female audience) under what is becoming known as “Villainess Isekai” in which the protagonist finds themselves in the role of a ‘villainess’ from an otome game (game involving a romantic story arc) and they must use their wits and knowledge of the game to avoid a deadly ending.

One such example of this is the manhwa (Korean comic), Villains Are Destined to Die by Gwon Gyeoeul and SUOL. Starting as a popular webcomic on Tapas, it has only grown in popularity due to the Villainess Isekai boom. 

With just a few glances at the pages alone, it’s easy to see why readers have taken so quickly to this story. The art by SUOL is gorgeous, every page filled with eye-catching art of the characters and the setting of the world. 

The story itself follows the above mentioned pattern, a girl wakes up in the world of an otome game and finds herself in the role of the villainess, Penelope Eckhart, whose route also happens to be the most difficult in the game. One of the takes on this plot that  makes it more unique is that our protagonist actually empathized with the villainess due to her own circumstances in the real world and thus she wanted to see the character find happiness.

Volume one does a remarkable job of setting up the stakes for the characters and the plot, introducing us to the characters of the story and the game within the world of the manhwa. Penelope is shown to be quite the sympathetic character, but the actions that made her a villainess to begin with are actually acknowledged within the story rather than just having her actions be misunderstood like you might find in some variants of Villainess Isekai.

One of the other interesting parallels is in regards to the girl who awakens as the villainess is that her own past is actually mentioned quite frequently. Other versions may have a brief flashback to their former life, but for the case of the protagonist who becomes Penelope, we get tidbits of her backstory that connects her to the villainess and that there are hints of a mystery regarding her family from that life.

The other interesting take we see is that she is determined to escape the world of the game and go back into her reality. More often than not, the usual take on this genre is that the protagonist died before awakening in the game world. 

For those seeking to dip their toes into the Villainess Isekai genre or for anyone curious about this manhwa, Villains Are Destined to Die Vol. 1  is an engaging and fun read that holds much promise for future volumes.

Written By:
Lauren Lapinski
Information and Digital Services Assistant

Tags: , , , , ,

Newer Entries →