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ClareR (6241 KP) rated Spitting Gold in Books

Jun 4, 2026  
Spitting Gold
Spitting Gold
Carmella Lowkis | 2024 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Paranormal
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’ll be honest: I didn’t know what this was going to be about. It was a case of judging the book by its cover. I didn’t even read the synopsis before I got stuck in. I was very happy indeed when the first page took me in to a woman’s prison in Paris, France in 1866 - just for a little while, until we start to learn why exactly Sylvie is in this predicament.

Atmospheric writing places the reader in Paris after the French Revolution, where Baroness Sylvie is living a perfect life with her affluent lawyer husband.

Her estranged sister, Charlotte Mothe, visits with an offer that’s hard to refuse. Their father is very ill, Charlotte needs to pay the bills, and Sylvie must come out of retirement and conduct a seance to help her out. But Sylvie is risking her marriage.

Spitting Gold is a debut, and I thought it was gripping and entertaining - it kept me reading! The characters were fleshed out, believable and colourful (to say the least!). There were moments where it made me feel very uncomfortable - was it the ghosts?

There’s a bit of something for everyone here: historical fiction, mystery, the paranormal, sapphic romance and family dynamics.

Recommended!
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2585 KP) rated A Fashionably French Murder in Books

May 1, 2025 (Updated May 1, 2025)  
A Fashionably French Murder
A Fashionably French Murder
Colleen Cambridge | 2025 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Tabitha Must Find a Well Dressed Killer
Tabitha Knight, who grew up learning both French and English, is making some money tutoring various people in French. She’s now landed a job as a translator for a diplomat’s wife who is looking to buy an haute couture dress for her daughter’s upcoming wedding. Their first stop is Maison Lannet, where they are treated to a fabulous fashion show. But when Tabitha realizes she left her gloves behind, she finds the designer dead. Can she figure out what happened?

It was nice to be back in 1950 Paris, once again seeing what life was like for people trying to rebuild their lives after the war. Yes, Julia Child has a strong presence in this book again, so there is lots of talk about French cuisine. So expect your mouth to water. The pacing of the mystery was a bit uneven, thanks in part to a couple of subplots, but I appreciated some of the twists we got along the way. The characters are fun as always, and I am curious to see where one storyline will go in the next book. All told, anyone interested in Julia Child or life in Paris in 1950 will be glad they picked up this book.