Book Review

Whose Body?
by Dorothy L. Sayers

A dead body shows up in the bathtub in a London flat, right around the same time a noted businessman goes missing. Who is the dead man? Are the two events at all related? Amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey shows up to investigate. This is the first of the Peter Wiimsey mysteries, and it is a quick and enjoyable read. The mystery itself is intriguing, but it's the characters and their interactions that really make this book. Peter is cheerfully upper crust in manner but lacking much real snobbery. He's also very smart and perceptive. His valet, Bunter, has a dry humor and a lot of resourcefulness. I also loved Peter's mother - the Duchess shares his cheerful and kind personality, and is equally clever but in a much more subtle way. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything develops over the course of the series.

Book Review

Duke Most Wicked
by Lenora Bell

This was a perfectly lovely historical romance with one of the better rake reformations I've read. Viola Beaton is a pianist and composer working as the music teacher to the five sisters of the Duke of Westbury. West, the Duke, is notorious dissolute rake, who decides to change his ways after some minor scandalous talk threatens the future of his sisters. Along the way, the nascent attraction between he and Viola sparks to life, and then into love.
I am such a sucker for romance novels that feature musicians, and luckily, this one delivered. Viola is such a likable and engaging character. She's talented and smart, kind and caring. I really empathized with the way in which she loved the people around her but was starting to feel stifled by always having to be the caretaker and supporter. West is very much the rake with a heart of gold archetype, but there's real warmth there. I love how his desire to reform himself is driven by his love and affection for his sisters as much as it is by his feelings for Viola. He truly cares about them and their happiness. His love for them gives him emotional depth that makes his love for Viola all the more lovely.