The witch at wayside cross - Lisa Tuttle

Jesperson and Lane have just solved their first major case when a man bangs violently on their door - and almost immediately drops dead. The police rule death by natural causes, but the detectives are determined to find out what really happened . . . Mr Manning was screaming about witches before his death.

The case takes them to Mr Manning’s Norfolk home, a land of mysterious Shrieking Pits and ancient knowledge. Mr Manning was himself a member of the enigmatic School of Ancient British Wisdom, and not the first to suffer a similar fate. Local gossip suggests that he was secretly engaged to one of the three lovely sisters who reside at Wayside Cross - but which one? Are they really witches, as the gossips also claim? And what does all this have to do with the mysterious Shrieking Pits and a mother desperate to find her missing baby? Jesperson and Lane, at your service. 

My thoughts:

Jesperson and Lane have a new case when a man drops dead on their doorstep and screams about witches. Intriguing. So they set out to Norfolk.

Yes this is book 2, but I do feel like it works as a stand alone too. You just read it as a mystery then, and do not know how they come to become detectives together.  But then who wants to miss out on that.

It really is Miss Lane doing most of the groundwork and we see things from her POV. Jesperson is out there solving things (and finding some amazing answers, I did NOT expect that.) She is a clever woman. I like them both.

As for the mystery. Yes who killed him. The 3 witches? Or are they witches?  The man running the society of magic? Someone else? Oh and then this baby disappears too. Another puzzle to solve and yes I sure did not solve it. I can tell you that.

Conclusion:
A nice historical mystery with a twist.

Paperback, 360 pages
Published August 10th 2017 by Jo Fletcher Books
The Curious Affair Of #2
Historical mystery
For review

The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief - Lisa Tuttle

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, crime or puzzling circumstances, think of Jesperson and Lane . . .

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, crime or puzzling circumstances, think of Jesperson and Lane . . .

For several years Miss Lane was companion, amanuensis, collaborator and friend to the lady known to the Psychical Societs only as Miss X - until she discovered that Miss X was actually a fraud.

Now she works with Mr Jasper Jesperson as a consulting detective, but the cases are not as plentiful as they might be and money is getting tight - until a case that reaches across the entirety of London lands in their laps.

It concerns a somnambulist, the disappearance of several mediums, and a cat stuck up a tree . . . the links with the cat are negligible, but there is only one team that can investigate the seemingly supernatural disappearances of the psychics and defy the nefarious purpose behind them.

Jesperson and Lane, at your service. 

My thoughts:

Miss Lane was a clever and practical woman, all good things in a main character. She realised that the woman she worked for was a fraud and left before everything fell apart. Not the most practical thing to do, I confess, but Miss Lane is lucky and found a new job.

Mr Jesperson was more the Sherlock Holmes of the two. He sees things others misses, he is an original to be sure. But also a perfect gentleman, and gives her a chance as his assistant.

They were a perfect mix and completed each other so well. She was the yang to his ying. I also kind of wish now that in future books they will fall madly in love with each other and have cute clever babies, awwww. But hey friendship is good too, just awww!

These two set out to solve their first crimes. A sleep walker, and mediums disappearing. Two cases that proves hard to crack. And it was nice watching them trying to solve these cases and the heat turns up at the end of the book.

Conclusion:
A great story, and I do want to read the next book to see what kind of case they get. Two great main characters and a lovely atmosphere through out the book

cover
meh

Paperback, 416 pages
Published June 16th 2016 by Jo Fletcher Books
The Curious Affair Of #1
Historical mystery
For review

The Silver Bough - Lisa Tuttle

Nestled on the coast of Scotland, Appleton was once famous for its apples. Now, though the orchards are long gone, locals still dream of the town’s glory days, when an Apple Queen was crowned at the annual fair and good luck seemed a way of life. And outsiders are still drawn to the charming village, including three very different American women.

Enchanted by Appleton’s famously ornate, gold-domed library, divorcée Kathleen Mullaroy has left her cosmopolitan job to start anew as the town’s head librarian. Widowed Nell Westray hopes for a quiet life of gardening in the place where she and her husband spent their happiest moments. And young Ashley Kaldis has come to find her roots, and learns that the town’s fortunes turned when her grandmother was crowned Apple Queen–then mysteriously disappeared.

When a sudden landslide cuts Appleton off from the wider world–and the usual constraints of reality–the village reveals itself to be an extraordinary place, inhabited by legendary beings, secret rooms, and the blossoming of a rare fruit not seen in decades. Most unexpected is a handsome stranger who will draw all three women into an Otherworld in which luck and love will return to Appleton–if only one of them will believe. 

My thoughts:

I really like her style. It's so fairy'tale, but at the same time it fiction. It makes me believe.

This is the story of Appelton. Once it was a nice little town with orchards, now people are leaving. All because of the last Apple Queen and the bad luck that followed.

Our 3 heroines are: Kathleen, a librarian. Nell, who has a few apple trees. And Ashley who wants to know why her grandma left so suddenly and never came back there. They are all different, they are all skeptics, they are all outsiders and they will all meet a handsome stranger.

Because here it is where the magic comes in. There really is something special about this not so much an island anymore. There really are things hiding, and not shown. There really is bad luck over the island, and all cos of an apple. And as the story progresses, more things are shown, you can be a skeptic first, but then you see.

Conclusion:

Tuttle really needs to write more mythic books about Scotland. I like it. I like how it makes me want to believe that there still can be traces of magic, and other beings around :)

Cover

Nice

Paperback, 457 pages
Published March 1st 2013 by Jo Fletcher (first published January 1st 2006)
Fiction / Fairy-tale
Own

The Mysteries - Lisa Tuttle

A blend of mystery, thriller and fantasy that will leave you looking over your shoulder.

Laura Lensky’s daughter, Peri, has been missing for two years. For the police it’s a closed case – she wanted to run away – but for her mother and boyfriend, Henry, it’s a different story. When Laura hires private investigator Ian Kennedy, it is a last-ditch attempt to find her daughter before she leaves for America. Drawn in by strange parallels to an obscure Celtic myth and his first, almost unexplainable case, Ian takes the job. But his beliefs are about to be stretched to their limit – there are darker and more devious forces at work here than any of them imagined.

My thoughts:

Is it a detective novel? No. A thriller? No. Mystery? No. Fairytale? No. Fantasy? No. The truth is it's all of those things. Its seductive charm pulling me in, and not letting me go. Making me wonder, believe and disbelief. 

It's the story of Ian Kennedy, an American working in London as a PI. His new case is about a girl gone missing 2 years ago. Why did Peri go missing? She wasn't happy? Was it foul play? But then why did she call 6 months later? The more he investigates, the stranger it gets. And he is not new to strange. He had another case years ago that made him interested in things most people believe to be fairytales.

Scattered though out the book are small stories about people, I guess real stories? About people gone missing. People taken by the Fae. Yes  hello, I call myself Blodeuedd online, of course I love Celtic mythology. So stories about the Tuatha de Dannan brings out my attention. Makes me wonder about every hill and what kind of fairies might be sleeping there.

But this is a mystery after all. He gets closer and closer to the answer. Will he find Peri, or can she not be found? Is she dead? Murdered long ago? I kept reading and hoping. And then the end, aww yes I want to read more of her books. She has a lovely style of writing.

Conclusion:

Now who to recommend it to? Honestly everyone. If you like fantasy, yes. Fairytales, yes. Mysteries and detective novels, yes. Just normal fiction, yes. So, go read it.

Cover

works for this

Hardcover, 464 pages
Published September 4th 2014 by Jo Fletcher Books (first published January 1st 2005)
Fiction / fantasy /mystery
From the publisher for an honest review