A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

If love Mysteries you will love this one. It has the dark creepy house with not welcoming husband not to mention the people who take care of the house. If your looking for a good mystery check all the boxes! Happy Reading!!!

I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book. It was intriguing, had just the right amount of suspense, and kept me guessing! The romance was okay, I didn't completely understand why some of the characters acted the way they did and what their motivations were. The historical aspects were interesting - accounting for the "new" income tax was a fun tidbit. The LDS aspects were disconnected, didn't really play a purpose or serve a role in moving the story forward.

In a sentence? Synopsis of this book is much better than the book itself.

I chose this book for its synopsis, even overlooking the fact that this novel was in Chistian section…

If it is Chirsitan and the main character is such a devoted Christian why does she lie so much? How can she? Honestly, what a joke…

The rest just follows. There are two many characters. There are too many lapses. There are too many predictable moments throughout the book.

I guessed who the murderer was from very early on. Then, the book lost its appeal completely.

The setting is nice. The idea is interesting. The timing, the dynamic, the development are too made up and prolongued.

If you have nothing better in your TBR pile, have a go.

Thrilling and wonderful mystery novel. The story takes place in 1920s in a charming Virginia mansion that is full of intrigues, secrets, and brother rivalry.

Anna, a modern secretary, lands a job as a live-in secretary/bookkeeper working for Lawrence Richardson. Lawrence's older son Tyler is against the idea and is not afraid to show it, meanwhile, his younger brother, Kent, seems to be very happy to have a young and pretty face around the house. Anna is hired to finish the job that was started by a previous secretary, Irene, who suspiciously disappeared. And surprisingly enough - no one seems to care what really happened to Irene. Anna settles in the house, makes herself familiar with the bookkeeping work, gets to know the staff that works at the mansion, and creates a close friendship with Evan and Grace. But one thing doesn't leave Anna's mind - what happened to Irene?

During one of Anna's afternoon rides, the young secretary comes upon a body that is identified as Richardson's previous secretary - Irene. Coroner's exam confirms that Irene's death was not caused by a fall from the horse - she was strangled. Heartbroken Anna makes a promise to her mom - to find who killed Irene, her younger sister. (What!?)

And what a wonderful list of characters we have here:

Lawrence - a patriarch of Richardson family.

Tyler - single father and a widower, whose passion is breading horses. Tyler is in line to inherit Ashton Hall.

Evan - Tyler's son.

Kent - ladies man, trapped in a marriage that he is trying to escape. Kent is known for his love of farming that causes many of the arguments between him and his brother.

Grace - Kent's sweet and caring wife, who has not been the same after losing her daughter Rose.

Helen - Tyler's wannabe wife, who comes from an aristocratic family.

Charles - Richardson family carpenter.

Verla - housekeeper/maid.

Pearl - cook.

Mrs.Calder - Evan's governess.

Billy - stable worker.

Anna is not the only one in Ashton Hall who has a secret. The young girl has a strange feeling of being watched, she is being pushed down the starts and a note with a black wreath is left on her pillow. Will this be enough to scare Anna away? Anna is convinced that her sister's murderer is closer, the murdered is an occupant of Ashton Hall.

Meanwhile, Anna manages to still do the job she was hired to complete. In a process, Anna persuades Lawrence to divide the management of the Ashton Hall: horse breeding to Tyler and farming side to Kent, that finally brings a peace between two brothers.

The last few chapters were so thrilling, I was accidentally skipping the lines while reading, that's how excited I was to get to the end of the book. This is romantic mystery thriller with a fantastic plot. Perfect vacation or evening read.

When I first requested the book, I thought the story was intriguing. But after reading mixed reviews and founding out that the heroine was an active Mormon (I disagree with their views), I didn't end up reading the rest of the book.

This is no shade to the author or publishing company or Mormons in general. I do wish them well and maybe I should have done some more research before I requested this.

One look at its cover and a quick reading of its description, I found myself excitedly requesting Searching for Irene from NetGalley. Living in Virginia, I was happy to see it was set here. I was also happy to see it was set in the 1920's, one of my favorite eras. Throw in a "fantastic castle-like mansion" and a mysterious plot, I was sold.

Unfortunately, Searching for Irene didn't quite live up to all I hoped it would. The story started well, instantly drawing me in, but after a promising start, it seemed to stall. There didn't seem to be any plot movement. This wouldn't have bothered me if, during this stall, there had been indepth setting or character development, but that seemed missing as well. When the plot finally moved forward, I found myself at the end of the book. The ending was good, just a little too quick. Two smaller things I didn't enjoy--First, I guessed the villain correctly pretty early on in my reading. That always takes away from a mystery. Secondly, a few times the main character's Mormon faith is mentioned. Her Mormon faith didn't bother me, (I'm of that faith myself,) but it had nothing to do with the character or plot of the story, at least as it was written. If it had, its mention would not have bothered me, but why be so specific and limit your audience, when it isn't applicable.

Overall, if you are looking for a quick, simple mystery, with a little bit of romance, I think you will enjoy this one. If you want something with a bit more depth, this may not be for you. It wasn't for me.

Searching for Irene was well written but I have to be honest it starts off slow and it stays that way. Along with being slow I am sorry it didn't keep my interest all that much, although there is a mystery and if you read books just for mysteries this is for you, but if you want excitement ; you can try it out for yourself.

This is a very nice and easy read. The writing was polished and the story and plot flowed very nicely. I highly recommend this novel.

Irene, Lawrence, Anna, Tyler, Evan, Helen, Kent, Grace, Charles, Mrs. Calder, Verla. This is a full cast mystery that really had me guessing from beginning to end. Honestly, even at the end when the final suspense/climax was occurring I was still second guessing myself on what the truth was. Well done creating plenty of doubt throughout to the author. I'm pretty good at guessing the whodunit or the big reveal but this time I suspected everyone and everything. There was enough little 'looks' or 'comments' from different characters that cast shadow on them, or had them placing plenty of doubt onto other characters. Plus the mystery of Irene...where is she? What happened to her? Will they ever find her?

The ending was pretty much packed full of suspense and action that I was reading as fast as possible and felt anxious trying to take it all in. There were moments throughout the book where I felt that the suspense dragged on and could have been condensed a little bit. Anna finds herself searching for clues to discover what is really happening at Ashton Hall after the previous secretary for Mr. Richardson turns up missing. Anna arrives and is instantly interrogated, put on edge by the underlying tension and her welcome is anything but friendly.

Anna's character for me was sometimes right on the mark and sometimes a little over the top with her sleuthing. I think I would have liked to see a little bit more reservedness in her character than the gung-ho attitude she had throughout the book. Tyler was very back and forth for me as well. Either he was extremely standoffish towards Anna or he had a bit of a temper towards her or was smiling and happy. Now this was probably written this way because you couldn't know for sure what to suspect of him and rightly so because this is a suspense. Kent kept me on my toes the whole time. Those angry stares then the flirty moments and then the rash decisions he occasionally made. Lawrence, even with his bad health was a suspect from the first moment I met him. What part did he play in Irene's disappearance? Charles was too helpful and kind one moment and the next had a calculating look brewing in his eyes. Grace was so sweet, reaching out and befriending Anna, especially after the loss she had been dealt but never fear she is watching everyone. Mrs. Calder and her looks...eeeekkk stay away from her! Helen, calculating, power hungry, money hungry and just plain catty. Glad she isn't my neighbor, thank you very much!

Several moments of peril and suspense that kept me turning the pages. I just had to find out what happened and how everything was going to be resolved. Anna plowing in to save the day only puts herself into peril over and over again. Will she be able to discover where Irene is or will she too end up missing if she's not careful in her search? Will she catch the bad guy before they catch her? How many hornet's nests will she overturn in this castle of secrets before she has burned all her bridges with everyone living on or around the estate.

If you enjoy a good whodunit, what happened, mystery I think this one would definitely satisfy that. Even with my thoughts above I still enjoyed the read and kept returning to the book to finish it, in fact it kept me up a little later than usually last night thinking I would find a stopping point only to have another little fact revealed that I knew if I just read a little further I could stop. But no I just kept reading because more info just kept being revealed so I finally just shut the book and decided I could pick it up in the morning. Lol.

Content: Clean. A few clean kisses, peril, suspense. Mention of Anna attending church at LDS services and praying but nothing in detail at all.

I received a copy from the publisher, Covenant Communications, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

This is for first book I have read by Marlene Bateman. I did enjoy the story it keep me interested. Anna is trying to discover what happened to the missing Irene, whom she is replacing and she discovers romance along the way. There were a couple of things that took place that felt a little off, some language that felt too modern for the time period. When I started it I didn't know it was a LDS book (Mormon), although there wasn't a lot of reference to it, it felt like it was added in when it didn't need to be and could have been kept a generic Christian view.

I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review and all opinions are my own.

I liked the premise of this novel, but I didn't like the timing. I felt like the mystery took too long to resolve. It was very easy for me to put the book down and not pick it up for days--there wasn't an urgency to finish until the last couple of chapters. Then the ending felt so rushed that I didn't feel like the author took the time to wrap it up. She solved the mystery and said "the end."
The mystery was good-it kept me guessing as to who the bad guy was. Every time I thought I had it figured out, there was new evidence that pointed in someone else's direction. Overall it was just an ok read....not one that I would recommend to my friends and family.

I did not care much for Searching for Irene. The story just didn't flow well to me.

Marlene Bateman’s Searching for Irene caught my eye awhile back, but the reality of the novel failed to satisfy my tastes and I have to admit I’d have great difficulty recommending it forward.

I hate sounding so blasé, but I have this crazy idea that a whodunit should leave the audience wondering ‘who done it?’ for at least some portion of the narrative. The reader shouldn’t be able to peg the culprit the moment the character enters the story and they shouldn’t catch themselves yawning as the cast slowly pieces things together.

I kept reading in hope that Bateman would throw me a curve-ball or at least create a motive or twist I didn’t anticipate, but neither materialized and I finished the novel feeling cheated of the time I spent with it. The story wasn’t bad, but it never took off.

The novel is light on historic detail and the characterizations lack the depth and complexity I crave. The story isn’t bad, but it’s more of a beach read than it is suspenseful page-turner.

I thought the cover for this book was great. Yes, too often the cover is what draws me to the book. This sets the right scene for a murder mystery - Anna is searching, through fog it seems, where it is somewhat dark and there is a man looming in the background. The story is well told – you get to know the main character very well, but all of the other characters are kept in shadow so that you never know who did it until the end. It’s also about a “working woman” who goes to a house of the wealthy to work (it just happens to be like a castle) and she gradually is brought into the family, able to go to dances and ride their horses around the vast estate in beautiful Virginia. It’s on that estate that Anna goes searching for Irene, the girl that she replaced, who disappeared one day. Irene had made quite an impression with the family and servants, and it’s quite a challenge to get honest or consistent information. As Anna gets closer to one of the sons, she also makes an obvious enemy of his intended, who makes no secret that she wants Anna to back off. But the more she learns, the more she is determined to know what happened to Irene. And the longer she stays, the more likely it is that she will be next. Good read right to the end! I hadn't read anything by this Author before - I'm now a fan.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Covenant Communications and the Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.

A book on the shorter end in page count and while in the end I still liked it, I did have one thing that made me debate on if it was a 4 or 5 star book.

A who dun it taking place in 1920 in Virginia (right around the corner from me) about a woman who must go live on an estate to uncover the disappearance of the young woman who was there before her. She has her own secrets that when revealed take the book to the next level - of course, I won't divulge those here!

This was such a perfect marriage of historical fiction with who dun it and there quite a few moments where I waffled and wondered who would be the culprit. I would say this is what bothered me a bit, for it being such a short book, there was a lot of wondering from the main character and towards the end I was over and ready for the reveal. Now I was not disappointed as to who did it and their reasonings, but I wouldn't have minded it happening a few pages earlier.

I read this book over two sittings one of which by the pool and I have to say it would be a good addition to your beach or pool bag or to be honest any vacation reading. It was easy to pick up and put down and not get lost at all.

This book was described as a story about a widow carring for orphans, and was actually a book about a Secretary trying to find her sister who vanished. The writing was abrupt and the characters were very simple. I could see it being geared towards a young adult. I don't like YA books so I would not have requested it, had I known. I never got into the book, than it started to bring up the Mormon angle, and I stoped reading because I do not consider that Christian. It would be helpful if some of those tags could be added.

I am generally not the target audience for historical romances. I'm not a curmudgeon, I like happily ever after endings, it's just that many (many!) of the romances I've read take advantage of contrived plot devices to introduce the main romantic characters, have them DEEPLY passionately in love three paragraphs later, then spend the next four (or fourteen) chapters going through drama and heartache to only figure out 8 pages before the end of the book that they really ARE meant to be together (and rich aunt Philene really understands their love and shuffles off her mortal coil leaving the poor-but-honest-teacher an heiress so they can sail off into the sunset on a yacht).
Romance writing also often isn't top notch. So, I didn't have very high expectations going into this book.


Searching for Irene is a period (1920's) romantic mystery set rural Virginia. The family whose patriarch hires her to put his estate in order live in and around a castle like great house. The former secretary/financial planner (Irene) disappeared under mysterious circumstances some weeks before the heroine, Anna, arrives at the estate.

There are some fairly minor problems with the plot and dialogue. It often feels stilted and stapled into place to move the plot along. There's not much 'show' and quite a lot of 'tell'. There are also a number of anachronisms (earned income credit is mentioned on page 191, it wasn't enacted until 1975), but again, to me they weren't overwhelming or terribly annoying.
The book is 'clean', no sex or foul language and can be read anywhere without embarrassment.

I found myself wondering about some of the main character's motivations. While LDS women weren't encouraged to do so, were they even allowed to marry outside the faith? (I know they are allowed to now, but in the 1920s?) She was from a financially struggling broken family, how did she get through college? Nobody in her employer's family (with whom she is required to live in the castle/house) says much at all about her attending different church services than the family's. That would've been somewhat remarkable given the time period and anti-Mormon sentiment of the day, I think? There were some religious/philosophical Mormon bits which I found interesting, but some readers might find off-putting.
In the course of her investigation, it's revealed that the former secretary (Irene) had a criminal record and was incarcerated for a time. Would she have been allowed to work for a secretarial agency in that case?

I do overthink these things, but they were a little distracting to me at least.

Final opinion? Worth a look/readable/3 stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

This was a fast-paced, well-written book. The period description makes you feel that you're there in this post-Victorian era. The mystery resolves itself in an unexpected way, and will keep you reading until the end!