The Friday Society

The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress

This book takes place in steampunk Victorian London and covers the story lines of three women. Cora Bell was a street urchin who was adopted by Lord White and has grown up in his mansion becoming his assistant in all his scientific experiments. Lately things have not been going well as Lord White has been spending more time in opium houses than the lab and he hired a male assistant-one that knows nothing and is more interested in Cora than in doing the work. She unhappily goes with him to a gala.

I’m so disappointed.

Nellie Harmon is Irish and moved to England for a better life, She is a knockout and worked in a burlesque show, becoming the most sought after girl-but always protecting her maidenhood. She left that when she met the magician the Great Raheem and became his assistant. Their lives are changed when a dead man shows up on their doorstep, a scientist.They start trying to search who he is and why he’s there when they have to go to a gala (the same as Cora) where scientific things will be shown and perform. Afterwards, she and Cora share a cab.

Michiko Takeda is Japanese and all she ever wanted to be was a warrior, a samurai. She is extremely beautiful and when she saw her father was trying to plan a wedding she ran away. She then went on to be trained to be a samurai, but was never to be gifted a sword as she was a woman and not given the honor.

Michiko left with Lord Callum who uses her skills to train wealthy families. They attend the gala to perform and that night when she heads home she is attacked. Nellie and Cora come upon her and the three girls get wrapped up in the two mysteries.

So Mystery One-the dead man. Who killed the scientist and why? It turns out to be a huge political plot and one that must be solved before the city is destroyed.

Mystery 2 is someone is murdering flower girls and preying on lower class women. Who? Why? This man attacked not only Michiko but killed one of Cora’s friends.

The girls team up and start their own vigilante society to stop whoever these people are. Nellie with her acrobatics, climbing, and magic props, Cora with her laser gun, night vision giggles, and Michikio with her sword. The three ladies take it on upon themselves to fight evil and save the day.

Thoughts After Reading:

So the actual mystery plot made me think of Sherlock Holmes (2009)-similar with the machine that will destroy everything. The idea for this book was really good, but at times there were parts were the story dragged and the writing was not very good.

But the concept was fantastic and that kept me reading. I loved that the girls became these superheroes using things mostly from their time period. I really liked the different women and how they interacted with each other-although I wish Michiko had spoken English as a lot of the book she is limited in her interactions with the other ladies as there is a serious language barrier.

Everything else was very enjoyable.

For more not in a series mysteries, go to House of Salt and Sorrows

For more Young Adult mysteries, go to We Were Liars

For more Steam Punk mysteries, go to Hearts of Smoke and Steam

Key Lime Pie Murder

Key Lime Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mystery #9)

It’s summertime in Lake Eden, and that means that it is time for the Tri-County Fair!

As always there are loads of events, games, rides, and food booths. Hannah was planning on only suppling cookies to a booth, The Cookie Nook, but when a friend becomes sick, Hannah steps in to take her place.

Yep, this year Hannah will be judging the bake-off; sampling all kinds of bread, cookies, pies, and more. She’s not in this alone, as the other two judges are home economics teacher, Pam, and instructional aide, Willa.

In fact the whole Swensen family is taking part in the fair this year: Hannah’s mother Delores is running a dunk tank for the Lake Eden Historical Society;  Andrea, entering the mother-daughter beauty pageant with her daughter Tracey; and Hannah’s youngest sister Michelle is trying for the Tri-County Queen.

What starts out as good eats, fun times, rodeo ramblings, and a quest to eat a deep-fried chocolate bar turns sour when Willa is murdered.

Now Hannah is on the case, trying to discover who is behind this killing.

Did it have something to do with the robbery of the Rodeo entry fees? Was it someone who was upset with Willa disqualifying them from the Tri-County Queen contest? Could it have been someone who was upset that Willa gave them poor reviews on their baked good, causing them to win nothing and destroy their reputation as best cook? Was it a student flunked by Willa? Or was it someone unknown?

Hannah soon realizes that she knows very little about who Willa is and her past. Why did she travel all over the United States, working in Washington, California, and Florida? Why did she break up with her fiancé two months ago? Why did she have her hair done and purchase a new outfit, when she had very little money?

As Hannah starts looking into this crime, she discovers that she needs to watch her step, or else she might meet the same fate as Willa did.

Thoughts After Reading:

Now I thought the title, Key Lime Pie Murder, was a stretch. There is hardly any Key Lime pie in the book, just the one case when they sample it for the fair.

And to add to it, Hannah never even made a Key Lime pie, nor does she add it to her shop’s menu, like in Lemon Meringue Murder, which would tie the book together. Instead, I felt that since the book failed to revolve around any dessert, a rarity, they just picked one they thought sounded good (which didn’t).

I don’t think so.

The story itself was good, and the mystery interesting as we have to figure out why someone would have killed Willa. I think that it was easily solved, but in a good way, rather than feeling lazy or stupid.

The only qualm I have with Hannah in this book is that she really seems to use Norman a lot, and he takes it like a doormat.

I think that out of all the books, this one shows how right her boyfriend Norman is for her, than her other boyfriend Mike. Mike is too controlling, in the sense that he is a cop and cannot allow vigilanteism, not to mention the ego-burst of having your girlfriend be better at solving these crimes. The opposite of this is Norman, who doesn’t care about her investigating as he enjoys jumping in with her. He also is amazingly sweet in how he takes care of her cat, treating it as if it was Hannah’s sick baby. In fact, in this book more than any other, I could see Norman and Hannah happily married, a Tommy and Tuppence of the midwest.

For more Hannah Swensen Mysteries, go to Cherry Cheesecake Murder

For more book reviews, go to A Change of Fortune