A middle-aged heroine living in the Pacific northwest has inherited her aunt's rambling house and decides to turn it into a write's retreat with rooms named after authors. What's not to love? A lot, it turns out. My concern is the main character. Emily is supposed to be an earthy, maternal, well-rounded individual. She came across as needy and immature and incredibly annoying. First, the author tells us over and over that she feels like Katie, the main murder suspect, is like a daughter to her, but they've only known each other a few months, and while Katie seems to respect and feel affectionately towards Emily, it is most definitely not a mother-daughter relationship. Emily's reaction to Luke's investigation of Katie is so resoundingly immature and naive and callous that I would have dumped her right then and there. Katie is found over the dead body, the murder weapon in her hand--of course the sheriff is going to investigate her. But Emily's reaction? "For a minute she wished she and Luke were sleeping together so she could deny him her bed as punishment." What the heck??? What kind of woman is this? Cold and judgmental describe her impression of everyone who doesn't meet her standards: the doctor is gruff and loud, so doesn't have a good bedside manner and therefore could not possibly be a good doctor. As for her former position at a small college, well, "the occasional student did commit suicide..." doesn't actually elicit any compassion from Emily. Then Emily willfully obstructs justice, lying to the sheriff and hiding information from him. Later, she decides that she needs to interview suspects just because she doesn't, I guess, think Luke would have done that or done it adequately--I'm not sure which was her motivation because by that point, I disliked Emily intensely. And this knitter was aghast by the piece Beanie was knitting--yellow yarn, followed by a section with deep purple tweed, then a section in green and black eyelash yarn, and then a section in fine pale blue mohair? My eyes, my eyes!! (Not to mention the difference in the yarn thicknesses would probably have made the entire piece a shapeless blob). Ms. Hyde is clearly not a knitter, and I think just threw this in because knitting is so popular these days and there are several knitting-centered mystery series. I could go on and on ("without a husband to support her through it all..." "even Emily's role as adoptive grandmother would have to be shared...") but I'll stop. Immature, whiny, self-righteous, judgmental. Nope, not reading another on in this series. And not recommended.

Though I liked the book, I made the decision when I finished not to review it on my site because it didn't fit into my editorial schedule. I may include it in a review post or possibly a book list post in the future.

This was a fun read! I enjoyed the many allusions to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. I thought that Emily was a smart and strong protagonist. It was a fast-paced mystery that kept me on my seat reading! There was one graphic scene that made me uncomfortable. Still, I recommend the for fans of The Madeoman Upstairs.

"Classic novels and crime solving intertwine in Katherine Bolger Hyde's charming series. Bloodstains with Bronte is the second in a series that will puzzle and please fans of mystery and masterpieces alike.

Windy Corner is being remodeled into a writers' retreat. Two of the young workers, Jake and Roman, are showing too much of the wrong kind of interest in Katie, Emily's young single-mother housekeeper.

It's a stormy autumn and Emily is reading Wuthering Heights. Roman, a dark and brooding type, reminds her of Heathcliff. At a Halloween murder mystery fundraiser at Windy Corner, someone is found stabbed to death. Windy Corner's very own detective, Luke, is reluctantly forced to investigate Katie.

Luke digs into the background of the contractor, Jeremiah Edwards, and Emily, now reading Jane Eyre, realizes Jeremiah resembles St. John Rivers in his obsessive, tormented piety. Will Luke figure out who the murderer is before Katie ends up in jail or someone else is killed?"

Because what says good cozy read other than Brontes and murder? Only me then?

3 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in this book series. I haven't read the first book, but didn't find myself too lost as there were plenty of past references to give context. Emily inherited a fortune and a Victorian mansion from her great aunt in the first book. Emily begins remodeling the mansion into a writer's retreat, hiring local workers to do the work. Two of the young workers pay too much attention to Emily's housekeeper, Katie, forcing Emily to fire them.

Pressured to donate money to the local clinic, Emily offers to host a murder mystery fundraiser on Halloween at the mansion. The actor that is supposed to play the corpse, who just happens to be one of he fired workers, turns up dead. Katie is found standing over his corpse, holding a bloody knife. Luke, the local sheriff and Emily's boyfriend, has no choice but to suspect Katie as he investigates the murder. This causes a riff between the happy couple.

This was an ok cozy mystery. Emily and Luke are a pretty bland couple, despite the fact that they are allegedly head over heels in love with each other. Katie is one-dimensional and a bit too sweet and innocent considering her circumstances. Most of the other characters were predictable and unforgettable.

When I decided to read this, I seemed to have been doing better with Netgalley books. I hadn't read a real failure in some time. No one- or two-star books in months.

Oh well – it couldn't last.

Now, this book was not the worst thing I've ever read. It was coherent, as far as it went, adequately well-written in terms of sentence structure and use of apostrophes and so on. There was an overdependence on somewhat labored simile, but it wasn't the worst I've seen. There were a few echoes – like more than one phone ringing just as someone went to pick it up. But it was the plot failed for me, and there was something under it all that just grated on me.

The setting for this book, and its series, is a mansion inherited by the heroine, which she is turning into a high-toned writers' retreat with a literary theme. (Which didn't make a lot of sense, financially… A literary-themed B&B would be fun – I'd go. I mean, the main character's money won't last forever, especially at the rate she's blowing through it.) The author and heroine got brownie points for deciding to make one of the rooms the Montgomery room, apparently after Lucy Maud Montgomery. The only negative I can possibly lay on that is that LMM is a somewhat odd bedfellow (so to speak) for the other authors chosen: Forster, Austen, Montgomery, Dostoevsky, Dickens, and of course Brontë. (Also, I can't quite stomach the idea of a murder centered around Lucy Maud. Which seems to be the author's eventual plan, based on the title conceit.)

The idea of a book-lover with almost unlimited funds creating rooms to evoke her favorite authors was kind of wonderful – something I'd love to be able to do. But that's not remotely a central part of the plot, and most of the planning and purchasing and decorating happens "off-screen". In fact, quite a lot of it seems to be delegated to the local vendors. This deprived me of a lot of vicarious pleasure.

Part of my disconnect with the book was probably the shadow of the first book lingering in this one. By which I mean that I didn't read that book, and references to things covered in it were meaningless. Who is this Philip in Portland? Is he dead and really a ghost, or was "ghost" another one of those labored metaphors? The events of that first book were pretty momentous for Emily, and didn't quite get enough attention in this one – or at least not early enough to make this a true standalone.

Something I grumbled about was the way that the identity of the murder victim was telegraphed from almost the very beginning of the book, to the point that I thought it was surely a misdirect and that someone else would come a cropper. But no, the person I expected to die was knocked off just as expected – so then I figured the solution was going to be either equally telegraphed or wildly out of the blue. (Mild spoiler: it was the latter, but not for good reasons.)

Of course, the victim would never have become the victim if one other character didn't behave a little bizarrely.

- "'Don't let him out of your sight,' she whispered to Luke …"
…
"Luke was in the back bedroom looking for Jake when he heard the scream."
- - Great job, Luke.

Something else that didn't sit well: a few cliché characters, like the drama teacher. Especially the drama teacher. That characterization managed to be offensive. And unless I've gotten my secondary characters mixed up, she was named Cordelia Fitzgerald – which cancels out the brownie points for the Montgomery Room. Oh! And the ME! "Medical examiner was a part-time job around here and a murder victim a welcome diversion." Really, And how did you greet the victim's family? "Yay, a murder! I was so bored! Your son did me a solid by getting himself killed!"

I was just annoyed by the heroine's semi-not-quite-is-it-or-isn't-it relationship. "For a minute she wished she and Luke were sleeping together so she could deny him her bed as punishment..." – That actually made me mad. And the weird fight that they get into – or rather, that Emily gets them into – baffled me. I was going to mark it as a spoiler, but it's in the book description:

"Listen, this is up to you, but I'd strongly recommend you get a professional crime-scene cleanup team in here. We can't have Katie cleaning that stairwell."
"Because she's a suspect?" Emily was shocked at the waspish way that came out.
Luke started and widened his eyes at her. "Because she's been traumatized." Then his eyes dropped. "Well, yeah, and because she's a suspect, too. At least until she remembers what happened."

Why was this a fight? Would Emily really make this girl – who, yes, has been traumatized – mop up the large pool of blood that came from the man who died at her feet, and if that's not enough, <spoiler>the man who previously raped her?</spoiler> And why is she so utterly outraged that a girl <I>found standing over the body of a man, holding the murder weapon</i> (because of course she picked it up and stood there clutching it) is kept in the suspect pool immediately after the murder? …"But she would not kiss a man who thought her Katie capable of murder." What that should be is "Luke would not kiss a woman who was such an idiot, and at any rate it would be conflict of interest to hang out with her until Katie was cleared…"

Luke, the local sheriff and Emily's maybe-sorta-boyfriend, is frankly crap at his job. Not only does he blow it at the very moment of the murder (you had one job, man), he lets Emily run roughshod over him in a way that even most other cozy mystery cops wouldn't allow. Emily talks to a witness and gets her to admit something, then calls him – and then lets said witness go off to work before Luke gets there. Overall I was singularly unimpressed with his sheriffing.

I was taken aback toward the end when Katie, who is boarding with Emily, makes a major decision without saying anything to the woman who, though a friend, is also her employer and owner of the house. Spoiler: <spoiler> Her new love: "No problem. I can move in here." <I>Really.</i></spoiler> Theirs is a kind of odd relationship, Katie and Emily's, half servant/master and half daughter/mother. Emily thinks nothing of having Katie go and fetch her tea – although then she might have Katie sit and share it with her. And then Katie can wash the dishes. Katie is allowed to decorate her rooms any way she likes – but the impression I was left with was of Emily in splendor in the best of all the bedrooms with no expense spared in décor and furniture, while Katie and her child occupy basically cramped servants' quarters furnished from the Salvation Army.

Finally, though there is a gay couple featured in the story, who are written pretty well and (almost surprisingly) pretty free of cliché, and though Emily and the rest of the main characters fight against (or at least frown at) the bigotry they experience … still, there came this bit:

"She herself was not a hundred percent comfortable with having a gay couple as tenants, but whatever her private feelings about their lifestyle might be, they had a right to live unmolested like anyone else. But where her own faith taught love for all sinners—including herself—she knew there were others who twisted the same scriptures to teach only judgment."

Huh.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

An excellent mystery with enjoyable characters. I can find myself wanting to jump into the pages to solve this mystery! It was a wonderful and suspenseful book.

Bloodstains with Brontë is the second book in the Crime with the Classics series by author Katherine Bolger Hyde. This is a well crafted fun mystery with a great element of the classics blended throughout. The references to classic literature will please every book lover.
Emily is a former professor who has inherited a old spooky house on the Oregon coast. She takes in a young woman as a border who has a mysterious past. Emily decides to hold a murder mystery fund raiser in her home and a murder occurs. Her young border had history with the victim and is now under suspicion. Emily must work on the case to clear her name.
As the investigation progresses Emily finds her growing fondness for her high school sweetheart who is a police detective in jeopardy. The romance is secondary to the well crafted mystery.
I loved the setting, the mysterious atmosphere and well plotted clues throughout. This was a very enjoyable read.
I highly recommend this series and thank the publisher for the ARC. My opinions are my own

Bloodstains with Brontë is the second book in the Crime with the Classics series by author Katherine Bolger Hyde. Released 12th Dec, 2017 from St. Martin's Press (Macmillan) it's currently available in ebook, hardcover, and audio versions.

At almost 300 pages, it's a substantial size for a cozy mystery, but the author has a deft hand at plotting and it goes quickly. This was my commute read to and from work, and I devoured it in a couple days. The chapter headings are quotes from Bronte novels and I was impressed with the way they coordinated and preshadowed each chapter.

The characters are well written and mostly fleshed out. I had some trouble with some of the dialogue, but in general there wasn't much clumsiness or being yanked out of the story by anything egregious. It's basically a bed and breakfast cozy with a literature professor as the amateur sleuth. It's comfortable and clean (totally SafeForWork), very little mild cursing (a handful of hells, damns, and shits). You know the deal going in, and it doesn't disappoint. The clues are presented in the story and while most experienced readers will have worked out 'whodunnit' before the end of the book, there are a few unexpected twists along the way.

The book is written in third person omniscient PoV, but there are journal entries written by Katie (a young woman who works with, and is like a daughter to, the main character Emily). The journal entries (in 1st person PoV) are italicized, but are placed without any segue, so they seem occasionally disjointed from the rest of the narrative.

There is a strong element of Christian faith and sensibility running through the novel, but nothing most readers would find very objectionable. Emily is written as a person of faith and that affects the choices she makes and her reasoning processes in the book. She has a different worldview than do I and as long as I remembered that, it wasn't a problem. She is a good person and tries very hard to live her life in accordance with her faith.

Much of the plot hinges on date rape and non-consent, so if that's a trigger, it's probably best to skip this one. The author does a pretty good job of writing the necessary awful bits without being too graphic or glossing over the trauma entirely.

I read this second book as a standalone and it worked perfectly well.

Three and a half stars.

Bloodstains with Bronte is a well-crafted cozy mystery that kept my interest from beginning to end. To begin with, I very much like the heroine, Emily, a former professor who has inherited a Victorian mansion in her home town on the Oregon coast. At a guess, she’s in her 40s or perhaps early 50s—not so far from my own age. Imaginative but practical, caring but no pushover, Emily has taken under her wing (and into her heart) a young single mother barely out of high school, whom she hired as a live-in housekeeper. Emily is also involved with her high school sweetheart, Luke, now a police detective. Her loyalties come into conflict when a young man is killed during a murder-mystery fundraising dinner in Emily’s house, and Katie becomes the chief suspect.

Emily is convinced Katie is innocent, but her motive is strong and her story doesn’t entirely hold up. Torn between her feelings for Luke, her love for the girl she thinks of as a daughter, and her innate honesty, she decides to protect Katie and discover the real murderer. Luke doesn’t want to believe Katie did it, but he’s absolutely committed to finding the truth, no matter where it leads.

Luke and Katie are secondary characters, but not by much—particularly in Luke’s case. A number of scenes are told from Luke’s perspective, and Katie’s diary entries give the reader insight into her thoughts. I appreciated the way the narrative moves from character to character; it helps to develop the plot and gave me access to information each character had that the others did not, as well as deepening the character development of all three.

I mentioned that Emily and I are both in our middle years. There are too few heroines of that age, though admittedly more of them in cozy mysteries than almost any other genre. There are also too few of that age who get a romantic relationship , so I really appreciated the growing love between Emily and Luke (despite the tensions caused by this case), and will look forward to seeing where it goes in future books.

The author inserts a number of references to and quotes from both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, as Emily (former English professor that she is!) draws parallels between characters and situations in both books and the people around her. The allusions are skillfully woven in, and never felt contrived. Hyde also employs a delicate touch when it comes to Emily’s Orthodox Christian faith; it’s a part of her personality and something that matters to her, but it’s only one facet of her character. Moreover, it’s Emily’s faith and not the narrator’s; there’s nothing “preachy” about the book.

A well-constructed plot, nuanced characters I can relate to, and a touch of middle-aged romance add up to a very promising series. In short, I’ve discovered a new cozy author I will not only happily read again, but will follow with interest!

An archetypal cozy mystery where the murder storyline is almost an aid for character development, rather than the other way around. The second book in the Crime With the Classics series uses Bronte novel plots as push offs for the contemporary mystery, and I enjoyed the literary interests of Emily, the main character. It was highly enjoyable and a sure-fire hit for public library mystery genre readers. Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy.

When the large home Emily has inherited is being renovated, she turns to Wuthering Heights to distract her from the noise and mess. Drawn into the story, Emily can't help but see a doomed love triangle playing out before her eyes involving her beloved housekeeper, Katie. When a murder mystery party brings matters to a head, Emily will do whatever it takes to protect Katie, including solving the mystery herself.

I liked this cozy mystery, but did not love it. The murder mystery party was a clever device, and I enjoyed the weaving in of a classic novel such as Wuthering Heights. But the plot device of every man who came into contact with Katie becoming obsessed with her wore thin very quickly, as did the choice to insert Katie's diary entries in first person into the chapters. The religious aspects of the story also seemed to come out of nowhere and were not integrated in well enough to justify their prominent position in the tale.

This was an okay read, but I don't think I will be rushing to pick up any more of the series.

What a great mystery read for my first time reading Katherine Bolger Hyde's work. It gave off an old fashion style mystery with bits of other book elements all through it. I hope to be able to read more from this author.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
There is a lot to like about this book. Emily has inherited a Victorian mansion (lots of the lately) and is going to turn it into a writer's retreat. She has three men in the house doing the renovations, the younger two of which have fixations on Katie, Emily's single mom helper. Katie is shaken by the attention of both for very different reasons and when one is murdered in the middle of a fund raising murder mystery at the house, Katie is amongst the suspects. The fact that she is discovered standing over the body with the knife that ended his life in her hands seems like a good reason to have her under suspicion. But for Emily, it is what causes a rift in her burgeoning romance with her childhood sweetheart who happens to be the cop investigating the murder.
Despite his affection for both Emily and Katie, he has to work the crime. Emily feels it is a betrayal to do so and withholds information in an attempt to protect Katie. Luke naturally feels betrayed by Emily. It is all rather complicated but it works out in the end.
I must admit I twigged immediately to the identity of the murderer. It still was a good story with plenty of suspicious characters. I like the way the author works in the similarites between the Bronte novels and the story being told. I may not agree totally with her interpretation of the works of the Bronte sisters but it fits in well with the narrative.
This might be good holiday reading where you want something light but entertaining.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

Bloodstains with Bronte is a cozy murder mystery, the second in a series that features Emily Cavanaugh a professor of literature who inherits a mansion, Windy Corner, from her aunt. While renovating said mansion to become a writer's retreat, a murder happens during a fundraiser. This leads to her young housekeeper, Katie, being a suspect and making her blossoming romance with Luke the Sheriff a little sour. Can she clear Katie's name before her romance withers and her dreams for Windy Corner turns to dust? So this one had an interesting twist. For one, Emily is a reluctant sleuth. In fact, for her, one dead body is one too many. She also just wants to help solve the murder because she doesn't want Katie, who is like a daughter to her, accused at all. So she tries finding other suspects for Luke to look into. The other twist is that each book happens to have one literary theme. So obviously its the Brontes' for this one. Some parallelism with Wuthering Heights and quotations pepper the book so its a different take in terms of adaptations. As a murder mystery, readers would be hard-pressed in trying to solve whodunit so it would definitely keep the readers turning the pages. Suffice to say, we may have good guesses but it still a surprise who the culprit really is!

ummary from Goodreads:

"It’s a dark and stormy autumn on the Oregon coast. Windy Corner, the Victorian mansion Emily Cavanaugh inherited in Arsenic with Austen, is being remodeled into a writers' retreat. Two of the young workers, Jake and Roman, are showing too much of the wrong kind of interest in Katie, Emily's young single-mother housekeeper. Their boss, Jeremiah, is a disturbing presence in a different way with his obsessive, tormented piety. Soon the passions in the house grow as dark and stormy as the weather, and Emily begins to feel as if she’s living in a Brontë novel.

Meanwhile, to raise money for the local clinic, Emily and Katie host a murder mystery dinner on Halloween night. All goes well until the supposed corpse turns up actually dead—with Katie standing over him, a bloody knife in her hand.

Luke Richards, local sheriff and Emily’s true love, is forced to regard Katie as a suspect, but Emily refuses to accept the situation. Her loyalty to Katie crashes against her duty to Luke and to the truth as she fights to save Katie from a murder charge."

My Thoughts:

Bloodstains with Bronte was a fun follow-up and second book in this cozy mystery series. Also, how great are these titles? I was really looking forward to jumping back into this series as I enjoyed the first book so much. In this book, Emily is working on converting her house into a writer's retreat. As I absolutely love her house and the descriptions of it, I couldn't get enough of this part of the story. I find it so fun to imagine inheriting a big rambling house like this filled with secret passageways and other fun stuff. It is just one of those things that makes these books such a pleasure to read! Then she is talked into hosting a murder mystery dinner at her house and that is when the real trouble begins. I've got to be honest and say that the premise is what made want to read this book (and ultimately got my reading this series) in the first place. Such a fun idea! This book had my attention from the very beginning thanks to all of this. I just couldn't stop reading and really didn't want to. That's really what I am loving about this series - how easily I fall into the books and the fact that I just can't seem to stop reading. It makes for a really great reading experience.

All of those positives being said, I did not care for Emily's choices in this book and found her to be quite frustrating at times. She basically punished Luke for doing his job and I just couldn't get behind that. I did appreciate though that the story wasn't told just from her viewpoint or I don't think that I would have enjoyed this one as much. Instead we also got to see Luke's point of view and even Katie's at times. I adore her as a character so much so that was really a delightful surprise! I really appreciated that we got to see more of her history in this book even if it wasn't always easy to read about. I've been curious as to who her daughter's father was and now we know (although I won't spoil anything by saying who). The mystery portion of this book was fun although I was able to pick out the killer myself. I definitely didn't figure out the why's behind it all until the very end which helped to make this still a suspenseful read.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought that it was a solid follow-up to book one. I'm really looking forward to continuing on with this series whenever the next book is released. I have added this series to my must read cozy series list because I have enjoyed the books so much. This book was a fun read and a great change of pace from some of the darker reads that I have finished lately. And while I had a few complaints with it, I still really enjoyed my time with this book. That should tell you everything that you need to know! I don't think that you necessarily "have" to read this series in order but with only two books, why wouldn't you? Recommended to fans of cozy mystery series and also those who enjoy classics. The author does a great job of really including pieces here and there from books by the authors that she includes in her titles (and I've actually read Wuthering Heights so that's a win for me).

Bottom Line: An enjoyable read!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley

Full disclosure, I decided to review this book because of the catchy title. I am a huge Bronte lover and I am easily swayed by all things Bronte.

But, after the initial excitement over the title evaporated, I was left with a book that I wasn’t sure I was going to love. So it sat on my review calendar for a few weeks and I was not looking forward to reviewing it but I knew the time was coming.

So I picked it up to start on a cold rainy morning (which suites anything Bronte related) and went to town. After about 3 pages I had a renewed excitement to read this book…it is set in Oregon (my state!).

And if I am being honest, I haven’t found a lot of Oregon writers that I love….let a lone books that are set here. It rains too much and people just aren’t chomping at the bit to write about anything in Oregon Basically it’s rare to find a mainstream book that is set in Oregon so I was thrilled to have something familiar to read!


Classic novels and crime solving intertwine in Katherine Bolger Hyde’s charming series. Bloodstains with Bronte is the second in a series that will puzzle and please fans of mystery and masterpieces alike.

Windy Corner is being remodeled into a writers’ retreat. Two of the young workers, Jake and Roman, are showing too much of the wrong kind of interest in Katie, Emily’s young single-mother housekeeper.

It’s a stormy autumn and Emily is reading Wuthering Heights. Roman, a dark and brooding type, reminds her of Heathcliff. At a Halloween murder mystery fundraiser at Windy Corner, someone is found stabbed to death. Windy Corner’s very own detective, Luke, is reluctantly forced to investigate Katie.

Luke digs into the background of the contractor, Jeremiah Edwards, and Emily, now reading Jane Eyre, realizes Jeremiah resembles St. John Rivers in his obsessive, tormented piety. Will Luke figure out who the murderer is before Katie ends up in jail or someone else is killed? (summary from Goodreads)

The town of Stony Beach is fictional but I know the area that inspired the fictional town well, Rockaway Beach. My family and I spend Christmas up there every few years so I know this area well. Not to mention it’s about an forty minutes north of Lincoln City where I spend a ton of time throughout the year relaxing and eating amazing sea food!

So yes, this is a great setting for a murder mystery Bronte related. The setting added a lot to the story and I loved how the Oregon coast was portrayed and used as an element all its own. However that said, because I know the area so well, I had a hard time loving Stony Beach itself. Stony Beach was nothing like Rockaway Beach or any of the other towns in the area. There is no awesome book shop or quaint antique shop that I can recall.

I read that the author create Stony Beach so that she could ‘have her way’ with the town and yes if I am an outsider looking in on Stony Beach, it sounds like an awesome beach retreat on the sea with quirky characters….almost like an English costal town. So yes if I didn’t know the area then I think the setting would have worked better for me, but as it happens I did know the area and I struggled buying into this fictional town.

The other thing that I struggled with was connecting with the heroine. On one hand I liked her and thought she was intelligent with spunk and a good heart, however I also could tell she was more mature than me be a couple of decades. I think I would have liked her better if I was older. She is in her fifties and she is kind of going through this new life change which is awesome and I think many readers will like that about her, but for me I just had a hard time identifying with a woman who was in a very different place than me with different interests.

As I said, I loved how the author showcased the Oregon coast and used that unique setting to her advantage. I also liked how the classic books played into the mystery itself. It was a unique approach that will stand out to cozy fans. In my opinion, the use of the classic books as part of the murder mystery is different and memorable. I think this will become a popular series with readers and it matures and evolves.

If you love cozy mysteries and are looking for something set in a new and unique area, with a heaping dose of charm and coziness then this is a great series to pick up, plus it’s a new series so you don’t have too many books to catch up on!

Book: Bloodstains with Bronte (Crime with the Classics #2) by Katherine Bolger Hyde

Kindle Edition, 304 pages
Expected publication: December 12th 2017 by Minotaur Books
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review
This book counts toward: NA

Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 3 out of 5

Genre: Cozy mystery, mystery

Memorable lines/quotes:

In an effort to convert part of her newly inherited home into a writer’s retreat, Emily has embarked upon a large reconstruction project. Unfortunately, two of the young workers have shown a strong, and unreciprocated, interest in her housekeeper, Katie. After having a baby out of wedlock, and then being kicked out of her parents’ home for doing so, Katie has become Emily’s housekeeper, and her and her daughter are now like family. Emily suspects that there may be some history between Katie and at least one of these boys, and that history comes into question when one of them is murdered.

As the investigation proceeds, Emily’s love, who works for the sheriff’s department, must investigate Katie as she is the most likely suspect. While it pains him to do so, it is his job, and he has to believe that the truth will out. Emily, on the other hand, will do just about anything to protect Katie. But is she willing to sacrifice her relationship with Luke?

One of the better cozies I’ve read of late. The plot was well constructed, the story was interesting, and I grew fond of several of the characters, particularly Luke, Emily’s love interest. Early on, I quite liked Emily, but as the story progressed, she sort of fell apart for me. Katie’s naiveté irked me to no end. And the way the subject of sexual assault was handled was especially frustrating. Not everything in the world can be treated with kid gloves.

As I said, despite my occasional frustrations, this is one of the better cozies I’ve read. If you like cozies, I’m sure this would be an excellent choice.

A cozy mystery that ties back to Wuthering Heights. This will be an author to watch.

Overall I liked this book. I did not read the first book in the series; although, this one did give me an idea of what happened before. I did not feel lost at any time; this works well as a standalone. The setting was described beautifully and the little details such as the storm on the night of the murder mystery dinner added to the mood of that part of the book. The author really did a wonderful job of supplying those small tidbits that made the book come alive for me.

I really got an idea of what the characters were made of even the ones I didn’t personally care for . The victim was definitely not a person I would like, and the main character Emily displayed some petty behavior that became more annoying as the book went on: Emily had a difficult time understanding that in order for Luke to do his job, he had to take a look at all the suspects even if one of them was someone she cared a great deal about. Her desire to “punish” him until he gave up seeing this person as a suspect doesn’t bode well for their relationship, and in future books, I would hope she behaves less like a spoiled child who is upset that she didn’t get her way . I wasn’t a fan of Emily because of this. Luke, however, was easy-going, and considerate. I did like him.

Another thing that bothered me was that Emily and Luke are portrayed as aging and tired. According to the book Luke is 54 years-old. I’m assuming since Emily was his girlfriend when they were younger, she is about the same age. Poor Emily can barely make it up the stairs of her house because it makes her tired, and she is contemplating getting an elevator. Luke can barely handle anything physical after interviewing suspects seated at a table. People in their fifties are generally in good health and can go up stairs with ease unless they have some underlying health issues. I’ve even known people in their seventies who could go tearing up those steps. It seems as if these two will need walkers in a year or two. The reason for their poor health is not mentioned.