ARC Review: Claret and Present Danger by Sarah Fox

Title: Claret and Present Danger
Series: Literary Pub Mystery #4
Author: Sarag Fox
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Cozy Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Kensignton; November 30, 2021 

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

When a Renaissance Faire visits the small town of Shady Creek, Vermont, amateur sleuth and proprietor of bookish theme pub The Inkwell, Sadie Coleman, finds deadly happenings stick around like red wine stains on white tunics in the fourth Literary Pub Mystery by USA Today bestselling author Sarah Fox.

The Trueheart Renaissance Faire and Circus has rolled into town, attracting locals who can’t wait to spend a few summer days lost in a whimsical world of all-knowing fortune tellers and daring acrobats. Well-read pub owner Sadie Coleman is swept up in the magic herself when she serves drinks to the faire’s resident wizard, the shamelessly brazen illusionist Ozzie Stone, and scores two tickets to his opening performance. Sadie has no complaints about indulging in a free show with her new beau, craft brewery owner Grayson Blake. But while Ozzie is an instant crowd pleaser, the real surprise comes when he collapses in the middle of his set. It’s not part of the act—Ozzie is dead, seemingly poisoned by someone who wasn’t clowning around about writing the roguish showman’s final chapter. The terrifying situation intensifies when the police eye one of Sadie’s employees, last seen caught in a suspicious fist fight at the fairground. With so much at stake, Sadie must strain through a suspect list longer than her cocktail menu to find the real knave of a killer. But when another performer is murdered, it becomes clear that bringing the mixed-up murderer to justice will be about as dangerous as walking the high wire after happy hour…

I’ve seen the Literary Pub Mystery books around and was excited to read Claret and Present Danger, the fourth installment in the series. I was drawn in by the summary and intrigued by the renaissance faire and circus that was going to be at the center of the latest mystery in Shady Creek, Vermont.

Overall, I liked the story. The issues I had with it were few and mainly personal, otherwise it was a good book. Some of my favorite aspects turned out to be the faire—with the characters in costume and reciting lines. It provided a handful of moments of much needed fun (no matter how temporary) in a story that was otherwise pretty somber in content.

I also liked the characters and some of the other key locations in the story, such as the literary themed pub the main character, Sadie Coleman, owned and operated in the small scenic town. I really liked the pub’s aesthetic, and I got all the little literary references sprinkled throughout the menu. Speaking of Sadie Coleman, I liked her well enough. She was loyal and willing to help out an employee of her pub when he landed in hot water, and I liked the way her relationship with her boyfriend gradually developed. I also liked the secondary cast as well, and their presence helped drive home that the immediate community Sadie lived in was pretty close-knit.

As for the mystery, it was fine. Ozzie Stone seemed to be good at his job as well as being generally liked, but there were a lot of secrets to uncover. His were only the beginning of the tangled web that would ultimately be brought to light in Claret and Present Danger.

About the author....

Sarah Fox, writer of cozy mysteries, was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she developed a love for mysteries at a young age. When not writing novels or working as a legal writer she is often reading her way through a stack of books or spending time outdoors with her English Springer Spaniel. Sarah is the author of the Literary Pub Mysteries, the Pancake House Mysteries, and the Music Lover's Mysteries.

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Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Kensington) via NetGalley for this review, thank you!

Music Monday (181): Tinashe, Sounds of Blackness, Mariah Carey, Khalid & Kirk Franklin, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Lately, I've been listening to Tinashe's holiday album called Comfort & Joy. My pick for today is her cover of Last Christmas. The original is a classic, but I like this version too. 

 

Adri: I found some older songs that I like. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Frank Sinatra and I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Billie Holiday.

Andrea: So the Christmas Season is upon us, which means it's time for Christmas music. With that said, I'm starting the season listening to  Soul Holidays by Sounds of Blacknes and Fall In Love At Christmas by Mariah Carey, Khalid, and Kirk Franklin. I didn't think that I would share a Mariah Carey song this year, but then...she released new Christmas music, and I love it!

Have an amazing week, and stay safe this holiday season!

What are you listening to this week?

Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Title: Piranesi 
Series: n/a
Author: Susanna Clarke
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Bloomsbury; September 15, 2020

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

I’ve always wanted to try reading a book by Susanna Clarke, and I settled on Piranesi. When I first heard about it, I was intrigued by its premise. And when I finally got my hands on a copy—it came out in paperback this year—I was more than excited to finally dive into it.

This book is hands down one of the best I’ve read this year. It could be a quiet tale at times, chronicling the character’s life as he lived in a place called the House. For such a short length though, it was a sprawling and intricate tale that meticulously captured and described the isolation of the situation and the setting, as well as the dependency that came about as the result of it.

For this post I’m going to call the character Piranesi, as he is often referred to in the story. “Piranesi lives in the House,” so says the back of the book. What this place is, it’s not apparent for a good chunk of the story. Yet, the mystery of its existence kept me more than entertained. And the answer to what it was, where it came from, and why it was there was quite a twist. The House was revealed to be a vast and magical place, with a whole ocean inside of it that had its own tide patterns. It was also empty except for Piranesi, birds, statues, and the mysterious Other. The story mainly deals with how the mystery of the House is unraveled, as well as what Piranesi’s role is.

I’ve stated a bunch of times on Our Thoughts Precisely that I enjoy a good house story that explores the place as well as the people who inhabit it or visit it. And the setting of the book takes place in a house that seemingly had no end. Since Piranesi is the narrator, we only get the events of the story and the descriptions of the House from his perspective. The story had its own uniqueness to it with the way Piranesi formed his own kind of language to cope with and explain the world he resided in. This was showed through Piranesi’s linguistic habits such as his a penchant for capitalized words, and his claims that other phrases and names had no correlation to what he knew.

Overall, Piranesi was fantastic.

Music Monday (180): Aurora, Parmalee, Blanco Brown, Kane Brown & H.E.R, Orlando Vaughan

  Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I like this song by Aurora. It's called Giving In To The Love.

Adri: My pick for today is Better Than Never (Main Mix) by Orlando Vaughan. I can't help but to bop my head or try to sing along when it plays while listening to my playlist.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Just The Way by Parmalee and Blanco Brown and Blessed & Free by Kane Brown and H.E.R.

Until next time, have an amazing week & stay safe.

 

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (209) & Book Beginnings: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Beginning: "When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of the three Tides.

56: "At first, I only saw a scattering of here or there, but by the time I drew close to the Vestibule I was walking over an uneven and treacherous Floor of Jagged Stones."

Comments: I finally read Piranesi, and I loved the story. It's one of the best books I've read so far this year. What are you reading this week?