As you may know, I live in the Chicagoland Area, the heart of the Midwest, USA. We get snow every winter. In November and December and into January we were really lucking out in the snow department; as in, we had very little snow. It's not that I am a passionate hater of snow, it's just that snow makes running more difficult, because not enough sidewalks are cleared for people who need sidewalks.
If I were to run to be the Queen of Illinois, I would run on a platform that would involve municipalities paying people to shovel the snow so that all sidewalks were cleared within 24 hours of any snow event of over two inches. I would also love to have heated streets, but mostly I dream of a world where sidewalks are not buried under mountains of snow each winter. This is on my mind because over the last few weeks it has snowed almost every day and now we have over two feet of snow on the ground! Bah!
(https://www.weather.gov/lot/202021_winterevents)
Over three feet of snow has fallen at Midway Airport! It was too cold for any of it to melt, but now the forecast is looking up and it hit 45F! The snow is melting! Maybe we will have a nice St. Patrick's Day this year?
Cozy Mystery Book Review Time! The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton
The Sign of Death is a historical cozy mystery and is the second book in the Victoria Book Club Mystery. There is enough context in this book that you won't feel lost at all if you jump into this book. The story is told from two points of view, Lady Amy who writes mysteries under a pen name, and Lord William her good friend and--maybe more! This book takes place in Bath, England in 1891. This is the first cozy I have read taking place in this time period, but I have read romance taking place during the late 1800s.
I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and so the exact wording of the book can change between the ARC and the published book so this might be slightly different but I have to share a sentence. I knew I would enjoy this book from the first sentence:
"William, Viscount Wethington starred in horror at the missive in his hand, the blood draining from his head. He read it a second and then a third time, but the words never changed. My dearest son, After much consideration, I have decided to retire from our townhouse in London and take up residence with you in Bath...affectionately, Mother."
My kind of humor right from the start! Lord William's mom is moving in and she wants him to get married. But he has bigger problems because in the next chapter we find out that Willam's man of business was found drowned in the river, and later we find out he was quite unscrupulous!
Recently, I attended a webinar for mystery writing and the author who was presenting talked about how important it is for amateur sleuths to be actively searching for clues instead of writers having clues just conveniently plop into their laps. Callie Hutton does a great job having active sleuths. Lady Amy and Lord William are like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, they are on the case!
This book a fun historical mystery Lady Amy and Lord William make a great duo and I am looking forward to their future adventures!
4.5 stars!
