The Safehouse

This story was fast paced and exciting. It is about a female detective that deals regularly with domestic abuse cases. She was an abused spouse herself and now is on a mission to save other women. She has a secret safehouse to take the victims to and a team of strong powerful women she works with under the radar (not to mention illegally) to get the abusive husbands. The writing was good, the plot was very interesting, but I could not bond with any of the characters and found it to be quite predictable.  I don’t want to give away the story but the methods employed by this detective and others were way out of bounds and I felt she was being glorified for it. She in actuality was no better than the abusive husband in my mind.Not to say that you might not love this story but it just wasn’t for me. Sorry Mr. Ackerman 😦


This review was at the request of the author and is my own opinion of the book after reading. I was not compensated in any way for this review.

Mary Roberts Rinehart and ‘The Great Mistake’

When lovely Pat Abbott first came to the Wainright estate, she was touched by a faint, ominous chill. She had heard strange rumors about the fabulous mansion, rumors that seemed to fade in he dazzle and excitement of her new job.’Then, as the days passed, Pat came to know the odd assortment who lived in the mansion…slowly the forgotten stories began to take on new, more terrifying meaning…until suddenly her dream job had turned into a bizarre nightmare of violence and murder.

Mary Roberts Rinehart 

presents a unique mystery novel that weaves 

romance and suspense into a chilling tragedy-of-errors.

The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart was a great who dunnit! I never even got close to figuring it out.  This novel was published in 1940 (follow the link to a complete list of her works with publication dates). Set in a rambling, eccentric mansion, The Cloisters, and full of interesting, suspicious characters this novel weaves a large web of mystery and suspense. Three murders, one mysterious attack and subsequent missing person and romance, this novel has it all!

Pat Abbott goes to work for Maud Wainwright as her live-in personal secretary. Not long after she starts work there a mysterious attack on Evan, the night watchman, occurs. His pants and his keys to Cloisters is missing! Things start moving fast from that point with Maud mysteriously coming home from an outing frail and nervous with a weak heart. Now pretty much bedridden. What happened that day as she was riding home in her car? What did she see that so shocked her?  Maud’s wayward, money hungry daughter-in-law shows up unexpectedly and moves back in with no intention of leaving anytime soon. A man who had run off years ago with a young girl returns home sick and ends up dead beside Maud’s pool. Evan, the watchman goes missing from his hospital room. Tony, Maud’s son, is falling for Pat, but there is that no good wife back and refusing to divorce and threatening to expose a big secret. Then there is the secret emergency meetings Maud has with her family attorney. Hmmm, lots of intrigue going on at the Cloisters. Great name for a mansion isn’t it!? This story is told by Pat Abbott in recollection fashion as she writes a novel about the happenings at The Cloister. If you love Mary Roberts Rinehart you don’t want to miss this one!

Mary Roberts Rinehart was born in Pittsburgh Pa., just 40 miles south of me, on August 12, 1876. She attended nursing school at 17 and married Dr. Stanley Rinehart at 19. They had 3 boys together. I found some very interesting facts about Mary on my search this morning for the date The Great Mistake was published and thought I would share these links with you!

Mary spent many, many summers in her cottage in Bar Harbor Maine (one of my favorite places in all the world is Maine! I have been to Bar Harbor several times) She loved to sit on top of Cadillac Mountain in the Acadia National Park with her son (if you’ve never been to Cadillac Mt. you have to make it a point to go!). While at her cottage one summer a very interesting experience happened to Mary that could have been right out of her novels! Check it out!

Also found out that Mary is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband who was in the medical corp. Will definitely have to check out her stone next trip there!

The Professor’s Mystery

This vintage mystery was written in 1911 by Wells Hastings. It was a little different in that the mystery was not a murder. It was charming and I did enjoy it. Having missed his boat to Europe the Professor gets on a train and meets up with a young lady he had met once previously at a party. He is smitten with her and decides to follow her to her hometown and embark on an adventure! On the way they are in a trolley accident and he helps her to her house where he is invited to spend the night as it is late already. But, during the night strange goings on begin and he is locked in his room and then abruptly asked to leave before dawn. His curiosity peaked, he decides to stick around and see what has happened. As time goes on he fears that ‘Lady’ is in danger of some kind and is determined to get to the bottom of it. I give this little mystery 3 stars. It is available in ebook form free at Project Gutenberg

Olga, A Daughter’s Tale

‘A kind, naive and gentle girl, Olga came to London from Jamaica in 1939 to live with her malevolent, alcoholic aunt and intending to stay only six months. But world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning to her family in Kingston.
Based on a true story and written using diary entries and letters ‘Olga-A Daughter’s Tale’ is about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and in particular love.’
from the author’s description

I loved this book! I started it late in the afternoon and couldn’t put it down until I finished and was left wanting more!

This is a story of how one persons selfish cruelty changed the course of a beautiful young woman’s life forever

I enjoyed the history of Jamaica, which I knew nothing about. The sketches of the plants and birds of the region, the descriptions of the plantations and towns made you feel like you where there.

The courage of Olga’s mother, Becky, to buck societies ‘rules’ and go with her heart even though it cost her dearly was an inspiration.Then there’s Olga…gentle, loving, trusting Olga. One brief instant in time and her life was forever changed. My heart hurt for her and the unjustified shame she carried all those years. But, she never let it change who she was, never became bitter or hateful. Her sweetness and faith in God was amazing considering. I liked Olga, I found myself rooting for her and railing against the evil selfishness that came against her.

I liked the diary form of the book but would have liked to have had dates with each entry to help me keep the timeline better in my head as I read. And I am dying to know the ‘rest’ of Olga’s story now…What happened after she left the Langfords? Did life get easier for her? Did she ever have someone to love her and share her life with? Did she get to see her remaining family in Jamaica after they found her? There is still so much to tell.

Olga is one of those characters that will be in my thoughts for quite a while. Well done Marie! You told your mom’s story well! I give this book 5 stars. Read it!!

 This review was at the request of the author and is my own opinion of the book after reading. I was not compensated in any way for this review.

The Undertaker by William F. Brown

‘I knew I was in trouble when Gino Parini shoved that .45 automatic in my face and made me read my own obituary.’

Those are the first words in chapter 1 of ‘The Undertaker’ a fast paced roller coaster ride of a story. I don’t usually pick this genre to read but this story got me right from the start and was really hard to lay down. If you like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels you will love this one. You have FBI, Justice dept., ex-military, the mob, an evil mortician, a Dr. of questionable experiments, and you don’t know who is the good guy and who isn’t. Poor Pete Talbott is on the adventure of his lifetime trying to figure out who is burying people under he and his deceased wife’s names. 
The writing is fresh, descriptive and energetic and the characters are believable and interesting.I give it 3 stars.  

This review was at the request of the author and is my own opinion of the book after reading. I was not compensated in any way for this review.

Miss Pym Disposes

This is my first book by Miss Tey and I was hooked on her right from the get go! She has a wonderful way of writing, the way she describes every thing is very appealing. Here is a sample, the first paragraph in the book…

‘A bell clanged. Brazen, insistent, maddening.
Through the quiet corridors came the din of it, making hideous the peace of the morning. From each of the yawning windows of the little quadrangle the noise poured out on to the still, sunlit garden where the grass was grey yet with dew.
Little Miss Pym stirred, opened one doubtful grey eye, and reached blindly for her watch. There was no watch. She opened the other eye. There seemed to be no bedside table either. No, of course not; now she remembered. There was no bedside table; as she had found last night. Her watch had had of necessity to be put under her pillow. She fumbled for it. Good heavens, what a row that bell was making! Obscene. There seemed to be no watch under the pillow. But it must be there! She lifted the pillow bodily, revealing only one small sheer-linen handkerchief in a saucy pattern of blue and white. She dropped the pillow and peered down between the bed and the wall. Yes, there was something that looked like a watch. By lying flat on her front and inserting an arm she could just reach it. Carefully she brought it up, lightly caught between the tips of first and second fingers. If she dropped it now she would have to get out of bed and crawl under for it. She turned on her back with a sigh of relief, holding the watch triumphantly above her.
Half-past five, said the watch. Half-past five!’ 

The actual murder doesn’t even happen until chapter 16 but you never even notice as the story is good enough on its own. The ending was great! Very satisfying read give it 4 stars