Intrigue in Istanbul is the fourth in the fabulous Jane Wanderly series. Jane had been married to a man who treated her poorly but the past is done and dusted. She and her new loving fiancée Redvers search for her archaeological father who has gone missing. At his American home Jane opens the mail and is stunned to see the house will be seized in weeks as payments are behind. At the bank Jane buys a week. But she must find her father yesterday.

Worried, Jane and Redvers travel to Istanbul where her father spends much of his time but is not to be found. Her aunt says he was on a mission to find Sultan Suleiman's heart, a dangerous proposition. Legends abound. On the Orient Express a man is stabbed which throws a wrench into things. Jane and Redvers have their hands full as they grapple with mysteries and secrets galore. Legends. Maps. Digging. Carpets. Exotic locales. What's not to love?

The mystery and characters are fascinating indeed but what captured me most is the wonderful location and rich details making visualization easy.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this refreshing novel. This series exudes charm!

This is my favorite book to date in the Jane Wunderly series. The story is set in 1926; Jane and her new fiancé Redvers have arrived in Boston to visit Jane's father, only to find him gone and in danger of losing his house due to a large unpaid loan. Jane and Redvers set out to track him to Istanbul, where he has disappeared and there are all sorts of mysterious goings-on regarding a historic artifact. I loved the settings of Istanbul, the Orient Express, and Hungary, and I like that Jane is spunky and clever but also still makes dumb mistakes at times. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for a digital review copy.

Really liked how the overarching story is progressing. My only criticism is that Jane felt a little missish in this one in ways I haven't noticed in the past.

"In Agatha Award-winning author Erica Ruth Neubauer's fourth wanderlust-inspiring historical mystery, it's 1926 and the adventures of vibrant, young American widow Jane Wunderly send her to Istanbul, Turkey, where the search for her archeologist father unravels secrets tied to a mysterious relic from the Ottoman Empire...

Istanbul, 1926: After her historian father makes a clandestine journey abroad, Jane and the dapper Mr. Redvers trace his footsteps while signs of danger loom back home in the United States. They're greeted at their destination by Aunt Millie and unsettling news: Professor Wunderly was on a mission to locate the lost heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent - a legendary relic from the Ottoman Empire said to possess potent mystical powers - then vanished completely, leaving behind his unpacked luggage, a perplexing riddle, and an eerie mystery Jane must solve to keep her loved ones safe.

What starts off as a clear-cut investigation becomes an intercontinental game of cat and mouse as Jane realizes a gang of nameless figures have been stalking her every move from Turkey to Hungary. And it seems even helpful friends can't be trusted for long when a man is stabbed to death on the Orient Express to Budapest. With Redvers by her side and few clues to rely on, Jane’s desperate search for her father leads to centuries-old secrets and an unidentified enemy who could make her disappear like the missing Sultan's heart..."

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Istanbul and intrigue!

My first widowed Jane Wunderly novel. Since then I’ve very happily read the previous titles. If only to find out more about Redvers (now Janes fiancé), and how they met. More importantly who was the bad man Jane had been married to.
Set in 1926, Jane arrives home in Boston with her fiancé only to find her archeological father’s dashed off to Istanbul, having taken out a loan on their house. Subsequently all the mail including details about the loan and repayments have been languishing. Jane realizes it’s only three weeks before their house is possessed by the Bank, so it’s off to Istanbul lickety split!
There she runs into her Aunt Millie and her fiancé Lord Hughes, and a white Russian woman from Redvers past. Jane makes the acquaintance of a mysterious woman who knows her father rather well.
I’m thrilled to recall various landmarks of Istanbul I’d visited in the past. The Blue Mosque, the Grand Bizarre. And I remember those Cisterns well. Fabulous!
Bodies litter the ground behind them as they catch the Orient Express into Hungary and then move on to a smaller town where it appears Jane’s father is looking for the legendary lost heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
I’m unsure about how I feel about the ending, although there was no other outcome. Just pressed the boundaries a little too much. All dovetailing nicely but yet?

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

As one of the better cozy mysteries I've read in a while, Erica Neubauer's upcoming 4th book in the Jane Wunderly murder mystery series is a fun read!

Set against another far-flung location across the globe, Jane sets out to find her father after he haphazardly embarks on a journey to find his lifelong dream: the lost heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. As she explores 1920s Instanbul with her fiancé and quirky-opinionated aunt for company... watch Jane maneuver the social politics of Turkish bath houses, swanky night clubs and high luxury on the Orient Express.

THOUGHTS:
- What I loved most about this book is that the story was relatively easy to follow but still surprised me and made me smile as I listened. Far from boring, it was fun to imagine Jane's story playing out across the ancient city of Istanbul with its impressive background of historic architecture set against the sparkling waters of the Sea of Marmara.

- Another of my favorite things about reading, in general, is when books inspire me to travel. My husband and I love to travel, and while we've taken trains in Europe, we would LOVE the Orient Express and experience an overnight train! That's sure to be a vastly different experience than the high-speed trains that cross countries in just a few hours. (I even created a new Goodreads category for books like this called 'travel-inspiration'.)

- Jane's character was fun to read. She's an atypical gal of 1920s society and makes light of her decisions to wear pants etc. I also love that she's a mature gal looking to get her relationship right, on her second time down the aisle. It's always fun to read a mystery/adventure when the woman has a little life experience and isn't making silly decisions/ playing into the miscommunication trope!

Have fun with this happy-ever-after, cozy, lighthearted trot across the globe!!

**Thank you to Kensington Books & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

I love the Jane/Redvers duo! Redvers insists on getting Professor Wunderly's permission to wed Jane. Unfortunately he is not at home in Boston but in Istanbul, where he seems to have vanished. Jane bounces between brilliance in finding clues and despair in worrying about her father. Her Aunt Millie and Lord Hughes show up to "help" and add to her worries. Outside of Redvers, Millie, and Hughes, Jane doesn't know who she can trust. Add to that Redvers' mysterious past in Istanbul which may be complicating their search. This is an engaging story of family, romance, and suspense.

INTRIGUE IN ISTANBUL by Erica Ruth Neubauer

As a passionate fan of historical mysteries, I was eager for the chance to read this from NetGalley (thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity) even though I have not read previous books in the series. This was somewhat of a problem, as I will detail later.

The mystery itself is handled very well. We have Jane returning to Boston from vaguely-mentioned overseas adventures in order to introduce her new fiancé, dashing British agent? Mr. Redvers, to her father, absent-minded Professor Wunderley. They arrive to find the professor mysteriously vanished, and Jane’s childhood home about to be repossessed by the bank for non-repayment of the loan her father took out on the property. Anxious to prevent this—and discover where her father is, why he borrowed the money, and whether or not he is in danger, Jane and Redvers follow information that leads them first to Egypt, then to Istanbul, accompanied by her father’s sister, Jane’s Aunt Millie, and Aunt Millie’s English lord fiancé.

By the time of their arrival in that capital, they’ve determined that the Professor, armed with new clues, has set off to discover the missing heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, buried after the sultan’s death in battle outside Budapest centuries earlier, a quest that has consumed the Professor for years. While in Istanbul, Jane discovers potential allies, possible enemies, and a mysterious woman who means much more to her father than she’d ever imagined possible. Dodging attacks from unknown sources that leave a trail of bodies, they embark on the Orient Express to track the Professor to his final destination, where after more danger and daring-do, the quest is resolved.

Although I enjoyed the deftly-written mystery and wonderful descriptions of Istanbul and the Orient Express, I had two complaints that prevent a five-star rating. First, the author provided only a sketchy background on the main characters, Jane Wunderley and her fiancé, dashing British agent? Mr. Redvers. Although I can understand her not wanting to repeat information already known to readers of the series, having not read the earlier books, the characterizations seemed somewhat flat. I would have liked a quick precis of the main characters’ backgrounds—Janet Evanovich does this very well in her Stephanie Plum mysteries, giving in each book a two-or-so paragraph summary of the character and her experience (one of the delights of the series is seeing how the author will introduce Stephanie.) Redvers is some sort of (current or former?) British agent, but his exact position is never explained, nor do we get much background on the widowed Jane, other than some hints about her unhappy former marriage, or about her Aunt Millie and fiancé.

My second quibble is that the “feel” of the book isn’t very historical. Except for a few mentions of Jane’s T-strap shoes or her cloche hats and the lack of sophisticated modern devices, it might have been contemporary-set. Although the book begins in 1926, on the very first page, Jane refers to it feeling “surreal” to return to Boston after her time overseas. That immediately threw me out of the story and I had to Google the use of “surreal” as a description, which as I had thought, though coined in 1917 and used to describe an artistic movement from 1924 onward, didn’t enter the general vocabulary until much later. As a writer of historical fiction myself, I’m doubtless much more sensitive to the dating of specific words than the general reader, but it contributed to my sense of an overall lack of historical feeling.

However, the mystery is fun, the characters are engaging, and if you’re not an historical “purist” you will find this story a delight.

Jane Wunderly and Redvers are at it again, solving murders as they travel the world. This time, they must voyage across the Atlantic and more to try to find Jane's father, who has seemingly found himself in some hot water in Turkey. Neubauer's novels are artfully written, including gorgeous scenes-setting, and rich details, and Intrigue in Istanbul is no exception. The mystery was interesting and kept me guessing. I was hoping for a little movement on Jane and Redver's relationship, which was my only disappointment. I'm looking forward to the next installment to see what happens to these two curious kids! Big thanks to Erica Ruth Neubauer, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this great book.

This was a fun read! This is the fourth book in the series, and had I not been tasked with reviewing it for NetGalley, I would have soon put this one aside to start with Book One. As it is, I enjoyed this volume enough that I will gladly go back and read the others.

Intrigue in Istanbul was fast-paced and compelling, keeping me guessing as I journeyed along with Jane and company. I loved learning about the historical areas of Istanbul as the mystery developed. I liked the cast of supporting characters and the sense of character development that was alluded to in contrast to past experiences (likely from past stories). The book was clean and tasteful, but not prudish, and had just enough tension to fulfill my desire for an engaging, cozy mystery. The writing is of good quality and there were just enough twists and surprises. It's a solid read, and if the rest of the series is of similar caliber, I expect this will quickly become an auto-read series for me as publication continues.

Jane Wunderly and Redvers are back in this marvellous Turkish delight that will take the reader from Boston to Southern Hungary via Istanbul on the hunt for sultan Suleiman's heart while fending off numerous murderous shenanigans, a rather unsavory Russian femme fatale and enjoying a rather sophisticated ride on the Orient Express.

A delicious whodunit full of evil twists and turns, lots of sparkling dialogues and a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters, Intrigue in Istanbul is the perfect blend of murder mystery/slapstick that one would definitely need as a companion on a rainy afternoon or at the beach!

Highly recommended and to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for this great ARC

I was drawn to this book by it's cover and title and I wasn't disappointed! Jane and her fiance Redvers embark on a crazy, exhausting search for Jane's professor father. With very little to go by and a lot at risk the duo find themselves in a race against time. The danger and unsavory characters they encounter along the streets of Istanbul, a trip on The Orient Express to Hungary and an archeological dig are well described and had me quickly turning the pages. Seriously I couldn't put the book down. I loved the nod to Agatha Christie especially considering the time and place of this entertaining novel. This is the first book of the series that I have read-it easily can be read as a stand alone. I was confused by the intrigue surrounding Redvers-perhaps we'll learn more about him in future books,. If you're looking to escape to a foreign and fascinating setting I highly suggesting picking this up! Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for an arc. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #IntrigueinIstanbul #NetGalley.#Kensingtonbooks

I love this series, and was excited to read Jane's latest sleuthing effort. I loved the setting, although it needed a little more specific detail to paint the scene better for me. I also was a little confused at why Jane did a few of the things she did in this book. I also wish the author wouldn't treat Jane's character as a modern 21st century woman in many ways... Overall, this was another fun installment in the series, but it wasn't my favorite (but also wasn't my least favorite). I do prefer the books in the series when they're traveling. The plot was solid, and even though I guessed the culprit it didn't bother me to guess correctly. This is a fun series and I look forward to the next installment!

I’ve enjoyed the Jane Wunderly series and this installment is no exception. Jane’s professor father is the quintessential absent-minded professor. Jane and her fiancé Redvers have traveled to Boston to visit her father, only to find out that he’s traveled to Istanbul in search of a mystical relic of the Ottoman empire. They also learn that he’s mortgaged her childhood home and only has a few weeks left before the bank forecloses if full loan repayment isn’t made. Jane and her fiancé head to Istanbul to find her father and find out what happened to the mortgage money and hopefully pay back the bank before it’s too late. Post WWI Istanbul is full of change, intrigue and a wide array of menacing characters. As Jane and Redvers search for her missing father they encounter a trail of violence, greed and a scavenger hunt for relic of Sulieman the Great.
The only downside of this book is that it did very little to forward Jane and Redvers’ relationship and we, again, learn almost nothing about his personal or professional past.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC!

This fourth installation of Jane Wunderley's gallivanting gets stuck straight into the action. Less cosy than the previous books, but nonetheless a pleasant read and a fun romp through Istanbul. One majorish criticism, Jane is starting to grate on me a little with her naiveté, one would think after being around several murder investigations would sharpen her wits a tad!

Usually i enjoy these mysteries, but this time I felt Jane constantly whined whenever Redvers investigated without her. Even after someone tried to kill her, she still complained when her investigated alone. I also felt there was very little empathy shown for the various people killed along the way, especially the last one at the dig site. I'm sorry to say if this had been the first in the series, I would not have read any others. Hopefully the author will get back on track for the next book. I would give this 2.5 stars.

I love the Jane Wunderly series. They’re so reminiscent of Agatha Christie in their settings and time period but with more sass. Jane and Redvers make for a fun duo. Jane is so determined and independent, which I adore!

I enjoyed the storyline for this one. It took an unexpected twist towards the end, and I’m always a sucker for a mystery set outside of the typical English countryside. The character of her father (the absent-minded professor) was cause for a lot of humor and exasperation from Jane which I enjoyed.

Looking forward to the next installment! Thank you to #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great book! The characters are fun and interesting. 1920s istanbul is such an interesting place Erica explores both the historical importance and its importance as a major trade nexus. This book starts out fast and doesn't slow down. Good detail without being overly buried in descriptions. Totally worth the read! I highly recommend reading this book.

I LOVED this book in the series. First of all, exotic location, check! Our intrepid heroine on a journey, check! Cute spy, check! The Orient Express, double check! I wasn't enamored with the second book in this series, so I'm very excited to see it get back to the adventure part of the story. Back to the "Miss Fisher" vibes, which I love.

espionage, Suleiman, suspense, suspicion, historical-novel, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, missing-persons, sly-humor, 1926, investigation, widow, relationships, relatives, relics, class-consciousness, archaeologist, murder, international-crime-and-mystery, action-adventure*****

The story continues, but you might want to read the earlier ones anyway. Not necessary, but they ARE so entertaining!
Jane comes back to Boston with her new fiancé only to find that the family home is up for foreclosure and her father is missing. The only clue has them haring off to the beautiful city on the Bosporus to try to follow her father's trail and find out what is going on. They meet father's "girlfriend", some very shady characters, a nasty femme fatale spy, and wind up on the Orient Express to go to Hungary! All in search of father who is obsessed with finding a fantastic relic of Suleiman the Great. Lots of excitement and suspense, understated humor, vivid characters, wild plot twists, and more! Loved it!
I requested and received an EARC from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!