Author: Catherine Lloyd

Blog Book Tour | “Death Comes to London” (Book 2: of the Kurland St. Mary #mysteries) by Catherine Lloyd Step inside the mayhem of the London Season, whilst keeping toe and step in tune with Lucy and the Major!

Posted Monday, 8 December, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Death Comes to London by Catherine Lloyd

Published By: Kensington Publishing Corp. ()
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, E-book

Converse on Twitter via:#KurlandStMaryMysteries, #DeathComesToLondonBlogTour

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Death Comes to London” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I requested the first novel in the series to better understand the flow of continuity and the origins of the Kurland St. Mary mysteries series of which Kensington sent me a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to the Village”. I read both novels back to back for the blog tour and was not obligated to post a review for the first novel. I received a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to London” direct from the publisher Kensington Books, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I sometimes find curious extra bits tucked inside my review book parcels, and this time around Kensington surprised me with a few things: a bookmark for “Death of a Dog Whisperer” by Laurien Berenson replete with the ENTIRE series listing on the opposite side of the bookmark! How lovely! I am going to be seeking this series out via my local library! My grandmother was keen on the series (at least I am thinking she was! I only remember there was a cookery mystery series she loved to read and I felt it was this one?) but it was the Double Fudge Brownie recipe bookmark which whet an interest to see when in 2015 I can borrow “Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder” to sort it out for myself! And, ooh yes! I am going to bake these brownies too! Which girl do you know wouldn’t savour a ‘free’ chocolate maddeningly rich brownie recipe!? The third surprise was a postie (postcard) annoucement for Kat Martin’s “Against the Sky” February release — on the flipside, it reflects her Alaskan series! However a rather buff agent of the law is on the cover of “Against the Sky” also set in Alaska (perhaps their the same series?) and I happily read “first time in print”! Ooh how lovely – perhaps it was an e-book previously!? (as an aside I found a tweet which answers my questions! see below this review!) Thank you, Kensington for whetting the whistle of my curiosity with these lovelies!

Inspired to Read:

As I have expressed recently, my love and passion for reading cosy mysteries are twofold: I appreciate the ones which take-on a particular historical setting and thereby become a part of the emerging sub-genre “Cosy Historical Mysteries” of which I defined a bit underneath this tour’s author’s guest post; all the while I appreciate the traditional cosy mysteries which harken back to the grandmother of the genre itself Agatha Christie! (read my thoughts on Dame Christie via my tour stop for The Monogram Murders) The Regency is a era of folly and mirth of joyful readings for me — I positively adore reading romances set during the Regency era and the fact this particular mystery series is set within a tranquil and quaint village outside of London; well, you can well imagine how wicked happy I was to request to be on the blog tour! I believe as you read my review of the first novel Death Comes to the Village prior to reading this review of the sequel you shall understand fully why I am drawn into reading cosies!

I read this installment with my newly given reading marker with the cutest hound dog and a stack of books seen on the front side of the Death of a Dog Whisperer bookmark! I had forgotten to mention there is a wicked lovely puzzle you can play with the cover art for “Death Comes to London” on the author’s website!  Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Go Indie
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Posted Monday, 8 December, 2014 by jorielov in #IndieWriterMonth, 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Cosy Historical Mystery, England, Equality In Literature, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Jorie Loves A Story Features, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Regency Era

Book Review | “Death Comes to the Village” (Book 1: of the Kurland St. Mary #mysteries) by Catherine Lloyd A Cosy Historical mystery you will surely find warmth inside and be thankful of your visit!

Posted Sunday, 7 December, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Death Comes to the Village by Catherine Lloyd

Published By: Kensington Publishing Corp. ()
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, E-book

Converse on Twitter via:#KurlandStMaryMysteries

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Death Comes to London” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I requested the first novel in the series to better understand the flow of continuity and the origins of the Kurland St. Mary mysteries series of which Kensington sent me a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to the Village”. I read both novels back to back for the blog tour and was not obligated to post a review for the first novel. I received a complimentary copy of “Death Comes to London” direct from the publisher Kensington Books, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Book Review | “Death Comes to the Village” (Book 1: of the Kurland St. Mary #mysteries) by Catherine Lloyd A Cosy Historical mystery you will surely find warmth inside and be thankful of your visit!Death Comes to the Village

Regency-set historical mystery, first in new series.

A wounded soldier and a rector's daughter discover strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Kurland St. Mary in Catherine Lloyd's charming Regency-set mystery debut.

Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil façade of the village begins to loom sinister. . .

Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington. As the dutiful daughter of the widowed rector, following up on the major's suspicions offers a welcome diversion--but soon presents real danger. Someone is intent on stopping their investigation. And in a place where no one locks their doors, a series of thefts and the disappearance of two young serving girls demands explanation. . .

As Robert grapples with his difficult recovery, he and Lucy try to unearth the dark truth lurking within the village shadows, and stop a killer waiting to strike again...


Places to find the book:

Series: Kurland St. Mary Mysteries, No.1


Also in this series: Death Comes to London, Intangible, Beneath Creek Waters


on 31st November, 2013

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

About Catherine Lloyd

Catherine Lloyd

Catherine Lloyd grew up in London, England in the middle of a large family of girls. She quickly decided her imagination was a wonderful thing and was often in trouble for making stuff up. She finally worked out she could make a career out of this when she moved to the USA with her husband and four children and began writing fiction. With a background in historical research and a love of old-fashioned mysteries, she couldn’t resist the opportunity to wonder what a young Regency Miss Marple might be like, and how she would deal with a far from pleasant hero of the Napoleonic wars.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

My introduction of the key characters:

The charm of the cosy within is the cantankerous bloke who warms your heart whilst saying the most wild and unsettling of declarations! He’s at his honest wit’s end, and thereby, all the wildlife in his particular section of the world must be within his field of sight of being ousted out of their natural environment because they are interferring with his tranquility of slumberment! If it weren’t so dire of a picture to envision this war hero walking angst ridden through wood and thistle, it would be laughable because whom would suggest such a crazy thing? Owls surely hoot for good reasons, but on the upturnt it was his nature of voicing his vexations at these natural occurring consternations that endeared me on the upstart of the novel!

My very first impression (of which will not surprise most who know me) of Major Robert Kurland mirrored a direct twin of L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stuart’s fated voyeur photographer who catches a murderer red-handed in Rear Window!) The Major has returnt from the front of war with an ill-begotten injured leg, laid up (pent up most likely!), and finding every wince of a vice he can lay his mind upon! He charmed me with his crustacean countenance!

Lucy is a spitfire in her own right, but with less confidence in voicing her confluence of opinions, and relegates her resolve of still being under her father’s roof; thereby his rules of life. A rector’s daughter who replaced her dear Mum who died in childbirth, Lucy’s path in life is laid out like paving stones leading out of a garden. Everything expected of her without a want or will of her own regard, yet a slow burn of freedom knits into her bosom! Her age of youth is on her side, which gives the impression she’s a heap of a step towards endeavouring her own mind and heart like Jo March!

The one character who will irk your ire quite a heap isn’t the Major, for he is by far the best companion detective to Lucy, and thereby brings out the joy in reading this series, no by all accounts it is the rector! Lucy’s father has a tongue of thorns and an indifference of gratitude for his daughter’s selfless and tireless work to maintain a home rather than a house. She took charge of everything yet has gained nothing but discontempt back from the one person you’d have felt would sing her praises. I applaud the differences being rapt apparent between her father and the Major; as the Major appears to be to have become not necessarily a full-on surrogate father but he is in her stead of confidence for an advisor on life’s affairs. She trusts the Major and even that surprises her a bit, but it is the level of honesty between them which I believe has endeared them to each other. Read More

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Posted Sunday, 7 December, 2014 by jorielov in #IndieWriterMonth, 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Cosy Historical Mystery, England, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Regency Era

Author Guest Post | via the “Death Comes to London” blog tour, featuring cosy historical fiction author, Catherine Lloyd

Posted Monday, 1 December, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

Guest Post by Parajunkee

I am welcoming with great pleasure to my blog today, the author behind a curiously written cosy historical mystery series, entitled: the Kurland St. Mary mysteries! I have been properly fascinated with cosy mysteries for nearly the full of my reading life — there was always something quite charming and wickedly addictive about reading cosies; the knack the writers have for inducing such wicked sweet suspense into their backgrounds, giving us strong and influential characters within their hometownes to rally behind, and of course a tightly wrought murder to investigate right alongside the amateur sleuth! Except to say, I do not always read about amateurs, no, my cosy heart is not too particular if it is a proper DCI or a silver haired sleuth or a well-known living person re-envisioned as a heroine championing the success rate of solving crimes most foul!

I am going to be exploring my appreciation and passion for cosies both the traditionally known as a ‘Cosy’ and what I have a penchant for calling the “Cosy Historical Mystery” (as it is a sub-genre within the main branch of Mystery & Suspense) on the morrow where I am featuring my review (at long last!) for “The Anatomist’s Wife” by Anna Lee Huber!! Alongside my review will be the long awaited interview I gave on behalf of “The Spoils of Avalon” novel (of which I participated on an HFVBT tour!) and the author who penned a tale which bewitched my imagination!

It is with an enthused welcome, I bring you an Author Guest Host by Catherine Lloyd! I am including the information on behalf of the first novel in this new series before sharing the information on the novel which is being featured on the blog tour itself: Death Comes to London! I quite happily am reading both books in tandem before my tour stop arrives lateron this week! Be sure to follow my feeds on Twitter, to watch for tweets in reference to reading both novels!

Author Guest Post | via the “Death Comes to London” blog tour, featuring cosy historical fiction author, Catherine LloydGuest Post: Catherine Lloyd

A season in London promises a welcome change of pace for two friends from the village of Kurland St. Mary—until murder makes a debut…

With the reluctant blessings of their father, the rector of Kurland St. Mary, Lucy Harrington and her sister Anna leave home for a social season in London. At the same time, Lucy’s special friend Major Robert Kurland is summoned to the city to accept a baronetcy for his wartime heroism.

Amidst the dizzying whirl of balls and formal dinners, the focus shifts from mixing and matchmaking to murder when the dowager Countess of Broughton, the mother of an old army friend of Robert, drops dead. When it’s revealed she’s been poisoned, Robert’s former betrothed, Miss Chingford, is accused, and she in turn points a finger at Anna. To protect her sister, Lucy enlists Robert’s aid in drawing out the true culprit.

But with suspects ranging from resentful rivals and embittered family members to the toast of the ton, it will take all their sleuthing skills to unmask the poisoner before more trouble is stirred up…


Places to find the book:

Series: Kurland St. Mary Mysteries,


Also in this series: Death Comes to the Village, Death Comes to London


on 25th November, 2014

Pages: 272

Death Comes to the Village by Catherine LloydRegency-set historical mystery, first in new series.A wounded soldier and a rector’s daughter discover strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Kurland St. Mary in Catherine Lloyd’s charming Regency-set mystery debut.Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil façade of the village begins to loom sinister. . .Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington. As the dutiful daughter of the widowed rector, following up on the major’s suspicions offers a welcome diversion–but soon presents real danger. Someone is intent on stopping their investigation. And in a place where no one locks their doors, a series of thefts and the disappearance of two young serving girls demands explanation. . .As Robert grapples with his difficult recovery, he and Lucy try to unearth the dark truth lurking within the village shadows, and stop a killer waiting to strike again…

Read More

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Posted Monday, 1 December, 2014 by jorielov in #IndieWriterMonth, 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Cosy Historical Mystery, England, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Regency Era