A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

This is my third Tasha Alexander book and I loved it.  I read almost the entire thing last night and have spent a good portion of today thinking about it.  It's been a long time since I couldn't put a book down.  This book is part of Alexander's Lady Emily series, the third book behind And Only to Deceive and A Fatal Waltz. 

Lady Emily Ashton, finally out of mourning for her murdered husband, Viscount Phillip Ashton, is in the process of balancing her role of society woman, friend, and daughter with the newfound freedom and wealth the death of her husband has given her.  Deciding to pursue academics instead of balls, tea parties, and luncheons, Lady Emily finds herself no longer readily accepted into high society.  Despite her wealth, London society matrons are not impressed by her social radicalization, pursuit of learning ancient Greece, and her well known protests of never marrying again.

In the midst of all this, a man turns up murdered, and artifacts once belonging to Marie Antoinette start disappearing from their wealthy owners.  What follows is a little bit of intrigue, suspense, romance, cat burglers, stalkers, pink diamonds, illegitimate children, love, pretenders to the throne.

The first two books didn't grab me the way this one did even though I did really enjoy them.  I like Lady Emily.  She's stubborn, smart, witty, and loyal.  Tasha Alexander writes poetically, but not obnoxiously so.  I had no idea where this book was headed. The ending was surprisingly, but not so far-fetched as to be unbelievable.

Well done Alexander.

According to amazon, there are three more books in this series.

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs is one of my favorite authors.  She's one of the few authors whose books I buy in hardback as soon as they come out.  Carol Goodman is another one.  This book conveniently was released right before my mother's birthday, so I purchased it as her present.  She read it, mailed it to me.  I read it, and mailed it to my older sister.

Flash and Bones is another Temperance Brennan book, the forensic anthropologist who works in North Carolina and Canada.  Many of her books, this is book 14!!, involve jumping back and forth between to two places, but this book just stayed southern.  Dr. Brennan is called to investigate a body found in an oil drum, leading her to a cold case involving a young couple who vanished years before, the sinister underworld of NASCAR, and a missing CDC doctor.  As usual, Tempe is witty, sarcastic, and fantastic at her job.

My only dislikes of the book were the location, (I prefer her cases that are in Canada.  Not sure why), and the lack of any resolution of her personal life.  A few books back her personal life unraveled and its still dragging on.  Grrrrrr!