#4 Prudence by Gail Carriger

Holding review per publisher request until two weeks prior to publication.
Edit to add in review

Prudence starts a new series with the daughters of Ivy and Alexia of the Parasol Protectorate series.  Prudence is the main star of the book but Primrose [Ivy’s daughter] is right there lending her a helping hand when trouble starts. Lord Akeldama sends his Prudence off in high style to India to investigate some new tea.  Along the way with leaving early, Prudence gets mixed up in something she knows nothing about but everyone else thinks she does. With her unusual powers she is able to do a lot more and protect herself better than her mother could when trouble starts.  The book has a nice tight ending and even though there are more planned you are not left with a horrible feeling of loose ends.
Fans of the previous books with like all the quick cameos of previous people in the series and new readers will see a well fleshed out world filled with lots of hints of back story for them to discover by reading the previous books.  Can’t wait for the next one in the series.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edleweiss

#5 Low Midnight by Carrie Vaughn

With the series wrapping up this book focuses on Cormac. With Cormac now the host to Amelia’s soul they make a good pair to lead the search for a key to decipher the grimoire that Kitty got at the end of the previous book. Amelias’ use of magic along with Cormac’s experience in hunting helps them solve a 100 year old mystery in order to get the key to the grimoire. The online help they do receive is very little but it does provide an interesting hook into the next book.  A fun read and I hope that even with the series ending we might see more of Cormac and Amelia in future stories at some point.

#6 The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

Start with the daughter of Dr Jeckyll, now a doctor in her own right mix in steampunk sensibilities and  a government that keeps a tight rein on all scientific breakthrough and you get the bare bones background of this book.  Dr. Eliza Jekyll helps investigate crimes but gets no respect from most of the police and is followed by a reporter trying to get the best stories. She also does work at Bedlam hospital on the mentally disturbed housing the notorious criminal the Razor Jack that she helped convict and find guilty but criminally insane.  Of course she has the same secret that her father had and Lizzie is as different from Eliza as she can be but loves her sister and tries to protect her from her actions when she is in control.   As Eliza tries to solves the mystery of murdered women in town she is also trying to stay out of the attention of the Royal Society even as one of their agents is interested in the murders as well.

There is a lot going on in the book and the murders do get solved but the beginning of what looks to be a multi book story arc is started with this one.  There are some other things mixed into the book but I really don’t want to give away the surprise to the reader. A fun start to a new series even if not everything looks great for our heroine.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss