I caught a cold a few weeks ago that I thought I'd kicked to the curb after only 4 days, only to have it come raging back a week later in the form of a cough that will. not. die. I've sounded like a barking seal for the last 8 days and yesterday, to add insult to injury, I got a skull cracking headache, too, leaving me feeling like every time I coughed I was going to end up like those people in the X-files, whose brains exploded out their ears.

So even though I have 3 other books currently going, I needed something very easy on both my brain and my eyes. Death Comes to the School was a perfect fit with it's on-the-large-side-of-average typeface and it's very familiar backdrop and characters. It allowed me to forget for a time about the icepack wrapped around my head and the cough lozenges that have stained my tongue purple (black elderberry).

The story starts off 3 years after the last book; why don't authors of series do this more often? It makes everything that happens so much more believable; rather than have a village of death, you're backdrop is just a village where normal stuff happens. Anyway, the murder happens fairly quickly, to a school teacher nobody liked, and it happens rather oddly, with a hat pin in her neck and a pen in her eye. From this point, the author has a bit of fun twisting the character stereotypes of the time around and using them to her advantage. The mystery plotting of the book is really very good, although the motivation tie-in at the end was a tad weak.

The character angst though, I could have done without. I really like Robert and Lucy, both individually and together but this book ... this book turn them into cardboard cliches, all because Lucy has yet to produce an heir. This is an historically accurate issue; childbirth was a treacherous business and entailments created situations where entire villages depended on one poor woman to produce a son. I get that. But the whole emotional miscommunication thing that bogged down this story was stupid; for two characters that talked and argued about everything incessantly in the first three books, the whole "doesn't she want me?" "he doesn't desire me anymore, I'm a failure" let's-not-talk thing was just annoying.

There was more to like than not, though, and as a nice bonus, the book takes place during Christmas, so it was seasonal too! This has been a solid series so far and I'm already looking forward to the next one, which will undoubtably continue to revolve around heirs and spares, but hopefully without all the silly angst.

Book themes for St. Martin’s Day: Read a book set before the age of electricity. ( )

It is now December 1820, three years since Major Kurland married Lucy Harrington and all is not well. But they become distracted for a while by the discovery of a body at the estate school.
One of the main reasons that I enjoy this series is the relationship between these two people, and that is evident again in this book. I also found this is be an enjoyable well-written, and very easy to read, mystery.
A NetGalley Book ( )

A good entry in this interesting series. Life evolves at Kurland Hall as Lucy and Robert work to resolve the mental and physical effects of two successive miscarriages and no heir as yet. Christmas is almost upon them when their abusive schoolmistress is murdered. The subsequent investigation, as well as the preparation for the festivities, create a lively environment for Lucy's inevitable investigation. ( )

This is the fifth book in the Kurland St. Mary Mystery series, but only the second that I have read. I would recommend that if you want to read this series, you read them in order. I missed a lot of the history and back stories of the characters and the village which would have helped me to enjoy the story more. Having said that, the mystery is very good, full of twists and suspects and kept me guessing right up until the end. It is well paced and well written with both some romance and a couple of mysteries

Robert and Lucy have been married for three years and they are going through a bit of a rough patch. They still love one another very much, but Lucy is depressed, due to a couple of miscarriages, and Robert does not know how to help her. Robert is afraid of losing her in childbirth and while he’d love children, he wants her more. He just doesn't tell her that. Lucy is trying to keep busy and break out of her depression, so she involves herself in the Village Christmas Festivities. What she does not expect is that the miserable school teacher her father hired, ends up dead. Robert does his best to keep Lucy out of the investigation, but that doesn't work. As she gets more involved in the investigation we see more and more of the old Lucy. Add in that someone is sending nasty letters to Lucy and others in the village and there is a lot to keep Lucy busy. Who murdered Miss Broomfield? Who is sending the terrible notes to people in the community? Is there more than one perpetrator?

I did enjoy this story and was rooting that Lucy and Robert would get their relationship back on track. I actually didn't like him much as the beginning of the story because he was so bossy and short with her. There are also a couple of romances developing in St. Mary's that were a nice break from the mystery. I am not usually a big fan of period reads, but this series captures the feel of the late-1800's beautifully. It was nice to see how Christmas was celebrated in Kurland St. Mary and that time-period. I listened to this book and the narrator did a very good job with the story. I think listening also had its downfall as Robert was read as an unlikeable character which had me turned off to him early in the story. Overall, this seems to be a good series that I will continue with, however, I will go back and read/listen to the stories I have missed. ( )

I'm enjoying this series. Lucy and the Major have been married for three years and she is recovering from her second miscarriage and feels guilty that she hasn't "produced an heir" for her husband. He is worried about her health and doesn't want her overdoing it. When the village's school teacher is murdered, the interesting facts of the case revitalize Lucy as she helps her husband investigate. Meanwhile, there are family issues to sort out and miscommunication between Lucy and the Major before the murderer is revealed. ( )